So, my nephew had a ballgame in Pisgah, OH last week. To my surprise, it’s not a unique name; as it turns out, it’s a biblical name. Hmmm. And fun to say, too.
For the moment, Pisgah is winning the places-with-odd-names-that-I’ve-been-to award. That I remember, anyway.
There are lots of unusual-sounding place names in Ohio (to my grew-up-in-Michigan ear, anyway): Chillicothe, for instance, turns out to be a town in several states (Missouri and Illinois, for example).
Then there are places such as Knockemstiff, which is, apparently, a ghost town; and Three Legs Town, which also seems to have disappeared.
There are, of course, listings of odd place names, but I’m more interested in hearing about places with odd names that you’ve actually been to and, of course, in finding out what brought you there.
And since I got first let me say that I’ve been in two of PAs Frogtowns; the one near Leeper quite a bit. I’ve also been in Toledo Ohio and Toledo Spain – I prefer Ohio’s one.
Hi guys! My now-husband and I spent a weekend in Kentucky and our BB was on a road called the Pisgah Pike. I wonder what/who Pisgah is to warrant all these names and places.
Oh- my sis and i used to like to take long drives around our Western NY suburb. We once came across a little town called Swarmsville. Always liked that one.
Not in the mood for Monday. Monday feels too Mondayish this week.
I’ve been to Pisgah, Mississippi. It’s across the river in Rankin County. I’ve also been to Anguilla, Ruth, Hurricane… and a lot of other places I’ve forgotten the names of, here in my home state.
I’ve been to a lot of places mentioned in the Bible, so I checked out Pisgah. It turns out to be a reference to Mount Nebo, which is in western Jordan, very near Jericho, in the West Bank. So I haven’t been there (I’ve never been to Jordan), but I have gotten close, since I’ve been to Jericho.
Also nearby is Sdom (Sodom), which I’ve passed through. There’s nothing really to see, except desert.
Oh Lord - now I have an earworm of the Dildo Song.
I was arrested in Anvil Montana but I think I’ve lasted longer than the town. Last I Googled it I didn’t get a reply.
PA has a lot of great Indian (Native American) place names; there is a book by a guy named Sipes that explains most of them. But French Azilum is my favorite Pebbsylvania place even if I never got to spend the night there.
Gratz to Rebohusband on being a Gradooyate, and I do hope rosie’s vid turns out well, because I love “When You’re Good to Mama” - definitely a belt-it-out song, too, it’s not something for mumblers.
Spain doesn’t have much in the way of funny town names, but there are quite a few places which have “upper” and “lower” versions. Usually they are small villages, although a very famous monastery, San Millán de la Cogolla, contains in its lower monastery (monasterio de yuso, which many people think is the name of the place and actually a different monastery, but it just means “the lower monastery”) a book whose margins contain the first known written words in Spanish and Basque; as far as the experts can tell, from the same hand. My favorite Upper/Lower places are two Castillian villages called Cerezo de Arriba and Cerezo de Abajo (Upper Cherry Tree and Lower Cherry Tree), though, although the name makes me hungry. I don’t like most fruit but I like cherries… mmmmmmh, cherries! Oh, and there is La Almunia de Doña Godina, Lady Godina’s Almunia, which for some reason many people think Almunia must be something dirty but no, it means vegetable garden (then again, to bring someone to the vegetable garden means to con someone, either in general or, more specifically, into having sex under false premises); it’s the big village/small town where Middlebro went to college and he refers to it as LA (pronounced in English) or “the place beyond the middle of nowhere”, depending on his mood.
My village in Bulgaria is called Boboshevo. Lots of Bulgarians from elsewhere thought this was hilarious, and often assumed I was mispronouncing it because I’m a foreigner. But I wasn’t. I don’t know. “Bob” (not really pronounced like the nickname for Robert) is Bulgarian for “bean”, maybe that has something to do with it.
The funnest Bulgarian place name I know is Koprivshtitsa. It’s a museum town and quite interesting. Plus, fun to say.
There are a ton of places with weird biblical names around here… Lessee… Jerusalem, Jericho, Jaffa, Bethlehem, Nazareth…
… What?
OK, in the “actually funny” category, we have Kiryat Malachi, which literally means “City of Angels.” It’s a pretty seedy place, so those who know of the American town tend to call it “East Los Angeles” :eek:
There’s also Kfar Saba – “Grandfather’s Village.” And Kiryat Tiv’on – “Vegan Town.”
Come to think of it, Tel Aviv (which can be taken to mean “flowering ruins”) is pretty funny, too…!
**Nava **-- I’m pretty sure “La Almunia de Doña Godina” is meant to be dirty!
Well, strictly speaking it’s “My Angel.” Just “angel” would be Mal’ach - the “i” at the end is the possessive suffix (“my”.)
BTW, the name is rarely if ever used (as a given name) in Modern Hebrew, for some reason.
Hell, if you start translating town names, the fun won’t stop: we have “Streets”, “Two Hills”, “Four Town”, “Eight Town”, “The Path of the Thirty-Five”, “Ghetto Fighters”, “Mermaid”… and that’s just off the top of my head.
