Bizarre city and town names?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I was so disappointed to find out that the residents of Mars don’t refer to themselves as “Martians.” Apparently, they call themselves “Marsians.” Talk about a missed opportunity!

Pennsylvania has a wealth of truly awful town names. Off the top of my head–Krumsville, Schnecksville, Gobblers Knob.

Of course, Jersey has some bad ones, too. Like Hohokus and Mahwah.

Until I moved off of Long Island, I didn’t realize there was anything weird about names like Great Neck and Little Neck. And it was funny to find out that people all over the country use the term “Hicksville” as a general term for a country-bumpkin kind of place instead of the name of an actual town!

And I don’t know how old I was before I realized that the “Whore of Babylon” wasn’t an actual person that you could visit!

22

My two favorites are,
The State park in Kentucky, Big Bone Lick
Tifton Ga. (reverse the spelling)

23

There’s also an Embarrass, WI, located on the Embarrass River. The name is explained here. Embarrass, MN has similar origins.

24

Of course, there’s Larry Bird’s hometown of French Lick, Indiana

25

There is a satellite community of my city called “Sexsmith.”

A couple of our employees live there.

There is also a nearby hamlet named “Valhalla”

26

I was looking at my NJ map yesterday, planning a little trip. I noticed that there is a town on the border with PA, right on the Delaware, named Foul Rift.

I gotta make a little side trip when I’m out that way, for some reason I love that name.

27

Bumpass
Humptulips
…I run into many funny town names in my line of work. I stop and laugh when I see the names.

28

I grew up about 10 minutes from a place called Dogsnest, Ontario. It was little more than a store/gas station and a couple of houses. It has long since been incorporated into the township, so the sign isn’t there anymore.

29

Ok this isn’t a town but an intersection

My friend drove me down this street about 2 weeks ago and pointed it out to me

We were driving down Antonio st. and it intersects with Banderas st.

I kid thee not.
Also my cable company is called Cox

30

I was going to post Intercourse and Blue Balls as well, but I see Bird-In-Hand, PA has not been mentioned. I like the sign in the link: “Named for a picture on Old Hotel’s swinging sign”. That must have been a pretty obscene looking sign.

31

It’s not that bizzarre, but if you get lost going there no one will keep a straight face when you ask “Where’s Waldo, Ohio”.

32

Well, this name isn’t funny, but the derivation is. Chicken, Alaska was so-named because (as the story goes), nobody in the town knew how to spell “ptarmigan”.

33

Oh, almost forgot: Fukuoka, Okinawa

34

Alberta place names:

Medicine Hat

Vulcan

Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump (seriously, and it is referring to a person’s head, not the bison…)

Hillcrest (it’s at the bottom of the valley, the surrounding towns look down and see the roofs…)

British Columbia place names:

Salmon Arm (yes, arm, not fin)

Yahk (to pronounce it properly, pretend you are a cat trying to dislodge a furball)

Beavermouth
and of course there are also a wealth of names derived from First Nation’s languages that are fun to try and pronounce… Ucluelet, Kimsquit, Kiskatinaw, Tashenshini…

35

Loads of dopey ones in Swedish, but they loose a lot in the translation, so I will offer you the previous address of a friend in London.

Faggot Yard, Braintree.

Swear to god.

36

Across the Ohio River from Cincinnati is Big Bone Lick Kentucky

37

I lived near Great Heck, Yorkshire, England. Now, I’m not too far from Between, GA.

38

Cut and Shoot, Bigfoot, and Goodnight Texas always make me chuckle…

There’s an Intercourse in Alabama too… we also got us Slapout, Eclectic, Cuba, Shorter, and Normal… along with the standard American Native place names… But my FAVORITE is Verbena… gotta love a town named after a flower…

39

ooo! I forgot Rising Fawn Ga. and Soddy-Daisy Tn.!

40

Bucksnort, TN.