# "Blue Ball" as a place name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104 "2011-11-16T11:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/1 "2011-11-16T11:38:50Z")
What is the significance of the phrase “Blue Ball” as a place name? I know of several Blue Balls on the map, and don’t know any Green Cubes or Turquoise Toroids. I know of the meaning of “blue balls” as aching, congested testicles. Is there any link between the condition and the place name? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/2 "2011-11-16T12:06:51Z")
Blue Ball, PA gets its name from the Blue Ball Inn, which no longer exists. When the owner built the small inn, he literally hung a large blue ball outside and started calling it the Blue Ball Inn. So apparently the name just comes from a simple sign designed to be recognized even by those who are illiterate (or speak a different language). The town was actually named Earl Town, but so many people referred to it as the location of the sign of the blue ball that the town ended up being called that. The slang term “blue balls” dates to about 1916, according to Wikipedia. The town was named over a hundred years earlier, so there’s no connection. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/3 "2011-11-16T13:48:12Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > What is the significance of the phrase “Blue Ball” as a place name? I know of several Blue Balls on the map, and don’t know any Green Cubes or Turquoise Toroids. Perhaps not, but I bet we could find places called Green Box or [insert colour] Ring. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/4 "2011-11-16T15:12:14Z")
Or Red Square. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/5 "2011-11-16T15:13:11Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The town was actually named Earl Town, but so many people referred to it as the location of the sign of the blue ball that the town ended up being called that. There are actually places all around within a mile or two of Blue Ball called Earl. There’s just plain Earl, there’s East Earl and there’s West Earl. They’re all unincorporated rural to semi-rural areas (but then, so’s Blue Ball). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/6 "2011-11-16T15:43:59Z")
Some of my ancestors came from Bluehole, Kentucky. Presumably the place was not named after a lonely woman. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/7 "2011-11-16T15:58:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Blue Ball, PA gets its name from the Blue Ball Inn, which no longer exists. When the owner built the small inn, he literally hung a large blue ball outside and started calling it the Blue Ball Inn. So apparently the name just comes from a simple sign designed to be recognized even by those who are illiterate (or speak a different language). > > The town was actually named Earl Town, but so many people referred to it as the location of the sign of the blue ball that the town ended up being called that. It’s not too far from Line Lexington. No idea where that got is name from. Maybe a railroad line. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/8 "2011-11-16T16:10:09Z")
And the Blue Ball Inn got it’s name because people on the way to Intercourse would stop there if they decided that they couldn’t or didn’t want to make it all the way that night? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/9 "2011-11-16T16:42:48Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > It’s not too far from Line Lexington. No idea where that got is name from. Maybe a railroad line. You piqued my curiosity. I just sent an email to the Bucks County Historical Society to ask that question because I cannot seem to find an answer online. I’ll let this thread know if they ever get back to me with a substantive response. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/10 "2011-11-16T17:02:35Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > There are actually places all around within a mile or two of Blue Ball called Earl. There’s just plain Earl, there’s East Earl and there’s West Earl. They’re all unincorporated rural to semi-rural areas (but then, so’s Blue Ball). I guess old Earl really used to get around back then. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/11 "2011-11-16T17:16:44Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > And the Blue Ball Inn got it’s name because people on the way to Intercourse would stop there if they decided that they couldn’t or didn’t want to make it all the way that night? The road from Blue Ball to Paradise runs through Intercourse. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/12 "2011-11-16T17:20:51Z")
there’s a public park near me, named after the person who organized a long effort to get it built, anna jean cummings. but the countY commissioned public sculpture for it which consisted of giant concrete balls painted blue. no one calls it anna jean cummings park. no one. and it had to be right next to the high school too. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/13 "2011-11-16T17:26:33Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > anna jean cummings. Must be related to e.e. cummings, yes? Aw, I’ve eaten at the Blue Ball Inn, sorry to hear it’s gone. (That sounds like a euphemism: “_I’ve_ eaten at the Blue Ball Inn!”) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/14 "2011-11-16T18:04:49Z")
There are some Blue Ball Inns elsewhere. I wonder if a blue ball as a sign gas some traditional meaning ( in the same sort of way as three balls for a pawnbroker) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/15 "2011-11-16T18:32:20Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > It’s not too far from Line Lexington. No idea where that got is name from. Maybe a railroad line. From the Hatfield Township website: > [@](#): > > The village was known as Middletown, since it was approximately halfway on the route between Philadelphia and Bethlehem. In the early 1800s, a village hat maker chose the name of the Revolutionary War battle of Lexington as his trademark and also gave the name to the village, adding “Line” to show that the village straddled the line between Bucks and Montgomery County. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/16 "2011-11-16T23:01:29Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Must be related to e.e. cummings, yes? no, she just is suffering from mY keYboard malfunctioning. i spilled wine on mY laptop and now i have no upper case except the Y which is onlY upper case. waiting for the replacement in the mail. and Yes i tried cleaning it in alcohol and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/17 "2011-11-17T00:06:51Z")
Aha. Apparently the Blue Ball in many of the English pub/inn names and signs has its origin in mediaeval heraldry - it’s a bezant azure, or something like that (which may represent a ball or disc) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/18 "2011-11-17T00:14:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > From the Hatfield Township website: This is pretty much what the Historical Society person emailed me. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/19 "2011-11-17T00:30:56Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > no, she just is suffering from mY keYboard malfunctioning. i spilled wine on mY laptop and now i have no upper case except the Y which is onlY upper case. waiting for the replacement in the mail.. I actuallY like the onlY upper-case Y thing, it could catch on! ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104/20 "2011-11-17T12:51:13Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Blue Ball, PA gets its name from the Blue Ball Inn, which no longer exists. When the owner built the small inn, he literally hung a large blue ball outside and started calling it the Blue Ball Inn. So apparently the name just comes from a simple sign designed to be recognized even by those who are illiterate (or speak a different language). > > The town was actually named Earl Town, but so many people referred to it as the location of the sign of the blue ball that the town ended up being called that. > > The slang term “blue balls” dates to about 1916, according to Wikipedia. The town was named over a hundred years earlier, so there’s no connection. How timely! Just last weekend my wife and I were vactioning and on our way to Philadelphia. We got a kick out of the sign to Blue Ball especially because it was just down the road from the Ephrata Cloister, once the home of many celibates. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-ball-as-a-place-name/603104.md?page=2)