BS: The oddest named city of them all...

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 11:30 AM

Need to include Idle (W.Yorkshire, UK) if only for the Idle Working Mens Club, which supposedly has a gigantic waiting list for membership.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 11:14 AM

The village up the road from us is called Fustyweed.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Musket
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 11:02 AM

Nothing wrong with Bolsover!

Well.... apart from the fact I come originally from Creswell and lived in Shirebrook for many years, so Bolsover is only good when defending it against non Derbyshire people... Otherwise, its poo. (Methinks there must be another Bolsover the other side of the pond then, but ours has a beast!)

Now... Oddest name is one thing but the oddest place isn't too far from Bolsover. They're all a bit odd in Duckmanton.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:59 AM

"Arse, in France"

Which is probably OK if you live there, but not if you're just passing through!

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:56 AM

Arse, in France. And our beloved Wetwang on the Yorkshire Wolds.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:54 AM

There's a small town near here called Udney. The name does not inspire confidence. It sounds like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft gothic horror tale.

Then there's Bolsover, not far from Udney. I love the sound of that.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:50 AM

Crackpot in the Yorkshire Dales.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Bobert
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:49 AM

Don't forget "Intercourse, Pa"...

B;~)

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Howard Jones
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:47 AM

There is a widespread belief that the ladies of Ugley have special dispensation from the WI to call themselves the "Women's Institute of Ugley" rather than the usual format of "Ugley Women's Institute". Sadly, it seems this is an urban myth:

Ugley WI

There is another village, also in Essex, called Matching Tye. Sadly, nowhere called Handkerchief. However, south of the river in Kent, the villages of Ham and Sandwich are adjacent:

Ham Sandwich

In France, there's the town of Condom. According to Wikipedia, the name of the river it is situated on is very similar to "a French vulgarism for a sexual act".

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:43 AM

I bet it's nicer than Hell, Michigan.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:40 AM

Hell is a town in Norway- somewhere I still have a one way ticket (from!) there.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Lighter
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:37 AM

Of course, we're only interested in "cities" here.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Lighter
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:30 AM

Well, there's Possum Kingdom, Texas.

And there's Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Formerly Hot Springs, it renamed itself for the radio show in 1950 as a publicity stunt.

On the "hog-eye" thread, I mentioned several nineteenth-century U.S. communities with that name.

There is, or used to be, a "Hog Wallow" in Virginia. At least the highway sign was till up in 1974.

There's a Honey Pot Road in Connecticut as well as in Massachusetts.

And have I mentioned the Grand Tetons?

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:27 AM

Omigod.

That is simply incredible. I bet Penelope Rutledge avoids going there on principle.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:25 AM

Gropecunt Lane (London)

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:23 AM

I wonder if there's a town anywhere called Hijo De La Chingada? Probably not, but there really should be.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:18 AM

Condom, France.

Bliss, Idaho.

Fish Hook, Illinois.

Big Neck, Illinois.

Las Putas, California.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:17 AM

A genuinely odd name was the once-prosperous port at the mouth of the Humber, long-since washed away, called Ravensar Odd.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:15 AM

Guelph. It's in Ontario, and nobody's ever been able to come up with a town anthem that doesn't sound embarrassingly silly. Just say it: "Guelph" (GWELF) It sounds like a frog croaking.

I think Dildo, Newfoundland is the winner so far. After all, people do (more or less) speak English in Newfoundland, so that makes it a lot funnier than a town called Fucking, in Austria if you ask me. Dildo should erect a town monument, sort of like the Big Nickel in Sudbury, only considerably longer than it is wide....and maybe electrify it too, so that it vibrates in an enticing fashion.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:12 AM

Not a town, but there's a street in old Hull called The Land of Green Ginger.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: theleveller
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 10:05 AM

Spital-in-the-Street, Lincolnshire. Great Heck, near Selby. N Yorks.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:57 AM

Any connection with the English idiom 'come-by-chance' to mean an illegitimate child?

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Ed T
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:56 AM

It is just a street. But, it is comforting to know there really is a Sesame Street, and it is in Miminegash prince Edward Island.
Sesame street

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:55 AM

In Kent there's a village called Loose. They have a women's Border Morris side, called (of course) Loose Women!

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Ed T
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:52 AM

Dildo, Newfoundland, followed by Come by Chance Newfoundland.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:48 AM

Ugley, Essex. There is an 'Ugley Women's Institute'.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:45 AM

Chipping Sodbury (Cotswolds region)
Intercourse (Pennsylvania)
Little Snoring and Great Snoring (Norfolk UK)

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:44 AM

Not exactly a city, but there is Shellow Bowells in Essex. Except that when driving through it I've never actually been able to see it.

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:43 AM

Well, Fucking will indeed take some beating. But no need to abandon a fun thread just yet.

Wounded Knee?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:35 AM

Case is closed!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Lighter
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:33 AM

The winner's right here. That didn't take long:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking,_Austria

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:31 AM

Westward Ho!

Subject: RE: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:24 AM

Noodle Dome, Texas

GfS

Subject: BS: The oddest named city of them all...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 09:18 AM

Oh, and let's include smaller towns too. So which one would it be?

Schenectady? Definitely a serious contender. But how about Albuquerque?

And then Canada's got places like Moose Factory, Moosejaw, and Buffalo Jump.

And then there's Hell, Michigan: Go to Hell this Thanksgiving...

Anyway, place your nominations for oddest-named towns and cities on this thread, and let's see what we can come up with.