19th Jan 2012 Amusing Or Depressing Place Names

The study of unusual place names is called Toponymy, amusing, depressing, strange or usual. What happens is that everyone who lives there becomes oblivious of the names amusing connotation. Another common occurrence is that people in the area refer to the place with a strange pronunciation. For example, a charming village in Cornwall called Mousehole. Do people pronounce it Mouse Hole? No, they refer to it as Mousle, the 'h' is silent.

 

You might find the following examples make you smile or wince; all are simply unusual:

Curious Name Places Located in the USA ~

Paradox, strange as it may seem, is in New York

Crapo, unfortunately for them is in Maryland

Boogertown, is happily in North Carolina

Hellhole, is depressingly to be found in Idaho

Purgatory, is sadly in Maine

Volcano, an explosive place in Hawaii

Needmore, is in the greedy state of Arkansas

Hardup, is in the poor (you must be joking) state of Utah

Rudeville, surprisingly perhaps is in New Jersey

Boring, can be found in Oregon (I wonder if it is?)

Hell, is in Michigan (Some other places too, I suspect)

Hooker, can be found in California (Surely other places too)

Virgin, is a place in Utah

Dulls Corner, is in Maryland ( Wonder if they wear pointy hats there?)

Bowlegs, is amusingly in Oklahoma

Beersville, is a fine town in Pennsylvania

Fleatown, is an itchy place in Ohio

Burnt Corn, in Alabama

Two Guns, famously in Arizona

Toad Suck, is in Arkansas

A Monkey's Eyebrow, is based in Arizona

 

Curious Name Places Located in the UK ~

Ugley in Essex (What a pity; is there an Ugley Women's Institute or Working men's Club, in the town?)

Pratts Bottom in Kent (Even more so)

Great Snoring in Norfolk (No doubt a very noisy town)

Little Snoring in Norfolk (Which would you prefer to live in?)

Beer in Devon (Possible retirement place for many)

Giggleswick in Yorkshire (Might be all right for me)

Maggots End in Hertfordshire (Ugh!)

Great Cockup in Cumbria (For muscle men with great ego)

World's End can be found in Berkshire and again near Birmingham (Lovely pub/restaurant in the place near Denmead, Hampshire)

Blubberhouses in Yorkshire

Catbrain near Bristol (Might be all right too for me)

Crank in Merseyside (Probably more than one)

Hole in the Wall near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire (Thought it was for toads)

Idle near Bradford, Yorkshire (Fancy belonging to the Idle Men's Working Club)

Lilliput near Bournemouth, Dorset (Full of little people?)

Mumps in the Greater Manchester area (Sounds painful)

Piddlehinton in Dorset (There are several names like this based around The River Piddle - true)

There is also a Wyre Piddle in Worcestershire.

Pity Me in Durham (OK)

 

Tags: placenames, toponymy

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