Place names considered unusual
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There are many unusual place names throughout the world. The study of placenames is known as Toponymy.
Types of placenames often seen as unusual include:
- Names with unorthodox spelling or sound.
- Names which are extremely short (e.g., one-letter names) or extremely long.
- Names that describe something that is commonly not a geographical location.
- * calendar-related names
- * numerical names
- * Interrogative pronoun names
Many place names that appear odd to English-speakers are from other languages. Often they are either meaningless or innocuous in their own tongue. Well known examples of this are the town of Condom, France, and the village of Fucking, Austria.
Some parts of the world have been seen as places which are famous for a large number of unusual names such as Dorset [BBC placenames] in England; Ireland [Odd or Interesting Irish Place Names] ; Antarctica [partial list of Antarctic place names] ; Alberta [University of calgary press] "Alberta has its share of striking and unusual place names" and Newfoundland [Newfoundland Placenames] "Newfoundland has the most unusual collection of place names of any country in the world." in Canada, and also Canada itself [Canadian Place Names] "There are a fair share of weird & unusual Canadian place names" ; and Arkansas [Arkansas's Colorful Names Amuse Some, Intrigue Others] , Texas [Texas town names] , Kentucky [From Red Hot to Monkey's Eyebrow. Unusual Kentucky Place Names (1997)] Minnesota [The Pocket Guide to Minnesota Place Names "how did these places get such unusual names"] and Pennsylvania [Unusual Town Names of Lancaster County] in the United States. Many of these are the result of local dialect or family names, so may more accurately be considered picturesque rather than unusual.
Examples of unusual place names
The following are some examples of place names which are considered linguistically or geographically unusual.While the nature of an "unusual" name is subjective, there are some placenames unusual enough to gain mention in reputable sources. Some such places even achieve fame or notoriety for their unusual name.
- 1770, Queensland, one of the few town names in the world which is a number only and written as such, ie does not use letters of the alphabet.
- Fucking, Austria, although uninteresting in the local language, has been the subject of repeated thefts of road signs by Anglophones, and this has resulted in some local notoriety; the town now sells T-shirts to tourists based on its road signs.[The Register, Brits steal carloads of F**king Austrian roadsigns, 15 August 2005][Fucking at Everything2] [Where is Fucking?] [Snopes, Austria is home to a town called 'Fucking.]
- Hell, Michigan, has achieved a certain status with regional weather forecasters commenting that "it's a cold day in Hell"[roadsideamerica.com, Hell, Michigan]
- Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts - in the local Indian language Englishmen at Manchaug at the Fishing Place at the Boundary but notably mis-translated as You Fish on Your Side, I Fish on My Side, Nobody Fish in the Middle and widely publicised as such, which combined with the unusual length of the name has led to it being a curiosity in the region[The New York Times, What's the Name of That Lake? It's Hard to Say Nov. 20, 2004] [History of Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg] [Even locals can't agree on spelling of Lake Chargoggagoggmanch ... Nov 21, 2004, Times Argus]
- Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Anglesey, Wales, originally just Llanfair, the name was deliberately extended by a Victorian entrepreneur to gain notoriety as the longest place name in the UK. The town itself is quite unexceptional, and is still known locally as Llanfair.[BBC, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Anglesey, Wales, 2000] [A Small Town with a Big Name] [Longest single word in the world]
- Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburirom
udomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit, Thailand, better known to locals as Krung Thep, or Krung Thep Mahanakhon, and to English speakers as Bangkok, has the longest official place name in the world (in Thai, กรุงเทพมหานครอมรรัตนโกสินทร์มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลกภพนพรัตน์ราชธานีบุรีรมย์อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถานอมรพิมานอวตารสถิตสั
กกะทัตติยะวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์).[Thailand Has World's Longest Place Name, by Eric Shackle]
- Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, New Zealand. The world's longest name for a geographical feature, in this case a hill some 300 metres in height located in the Hawke's Bay province.
- Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. [City of Truth or Consequences and Sierra County, New Mexico — How Hot Springs Became Truth or Consequences] Named after a game show of this name.
References
See also
External links
- [Visiting Strange Place Names]
- [Cheeky town and place names]
- [Weird and funny place names]
- [What's in a name? You'd Be Surprised, By Arnie Greenberg]
- [Unusual city names]
- [Odd and Unusual Place Names]
- [Unusual and unique Canadian place names]
- [A Place Called Peculiar: Stories About Unusual American Place-Names by Frank K. Gallant]
- [CNN news, Odd town names strike author's fancy (1998)]
- [Odd Name Places]
- [Unusual placenames around the world]
- [Welcome to Fucking Austria]
- [Photographs of rude place names from around the world]
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