# Descriptive place names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2021, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264 "2021-09-24T11:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/41 "2021-09-25T19:16:56Z")
The nearby Wakarusa River (a tributary of the Kansas River) gets its name from an Indian legend where a woman crossing the river exclaimed that it was “hip deep”. A locally-favored looser translation is “the water is up to my ass.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/42 "2021-09-25T19:39:25Z")
It is always popular to destroy some natural, scenic, or historic resource in the name of “progress” and then to make it all okay by naming the new development after whatever was destroyed. In the community of Los Osos (“The Bears”), CA, there are groves of eucalyptus trees that are a famous stop-over point for vast swarms of migrating monarch butterflies. A few years ago (like, around 1995 or so?) they tore down an entire patch of one such grove to build an elementary school there, over much local protest. Of course, they named the school “Monarch Grove Elementary School”. > [@alovem](#): > > Interestingly, when either is pasted without format in a Word document, the name is broken down into parts separated by hyphens that don’t appear in the formatted text, like this: > > Llanfair-­pwllgwyngyll­-gogery-­chwyrn­-drobwll-­llan-­tysilio-­gogo-­goch These are probably “soft hyphen” marks that you can insert into a formatted document to indicate points where the word _may_ be hyphenated. They will normally not be visible in the formatted text, but if the software decides it must break the word onto two lines, these are the points where it may do that. (ETA: Otherwise, a formatter may get its hyphenation rules from its spell-check dictionary, which typically also includes hyphenation points.) Also, BTW, there is at least one place named Llano in Ca, out in the Mojave Desert. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/43 "2021-09-25T19:56:42Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Otherwise, a formatter may get its hyphenation rules from its spell-check dictionary Cool, thanks for pointing that out. So it’s a built-in feature of web design and word processors? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/44 "2021-09-25T20:04:17Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > > [@Senegoid](#): > > > > Otherwise, a formatter may get its hyphenation rules from its spell-check dictionary   > > Cool, thanks for pointing that out. So it’s a built-in feature of web design and word processors?   Right. In HTML markup, it’s ­ among other codings. Wikipedia has more: > **[Soft hyphen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_hyphen)** > > In computing and typesetting, a soft hyphen (ISO 8859: 0xAD, Unicode .mw-parser-output .monospaced{font-family:monospace,monospace}U+00AD SOFT HYPHEN, HTML: ­ or ­ or ­) or syllable hyphen (EBCDIC: 0xCA), abbreviated SHY, is a code point reserved in some coded character sets for the purpose of breaking words across lines by inserting visible hyphens if they fall on the line end but remain invisible within the line. > Two alternative ways of using the soft hyphen character for this p... ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/45 "2021-09-25T23:30:54Z")
Several people have mentioned places _on_ Long Island (NY), but then there’s Long Island itself. It is what it’s called, an island 118 miles long. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/46 "2021-09-25T23:52:00Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Summit County Ohio, not so much (but it’s the high point of the Erie canal, so I’ll give them a break) And the chief city in that county, Akron, also means “high place”. Lots of the Cleveland suburbs have descriptive names. Lakewood, where I live, is certainly on the lake, and would have been forested at the time of its first settling. Next town west is Rocky River, named after the river that forms its border with Lakewood (and of course, the river’s name is also descriptive). Past that is Bay Village, which is literally on a bay. South of Rocky River is Fairview Park, which is also right up against the same river, in an area where that leads to some great views. On the other side of town, there’s Eastlake, which is on the lake and east of Cleveland (unfortunately, while there’s a Westlake over this way, it’s south of Bay Village, and so not on the lake itself). And a number of the suburbs and exurbs have names of the form Falls or Heights, all of which are descriptive (though the Something part may not be). And between Cleveland and the high point of the canal, there’s Portage, which marked the point, pre-canal, where you’d have to take a canoe out of the water and carry it over land to a south-flowing river. EDIT: Oh, and a nitpick: It’s the Ohio-Erie Canal. The Erie Canal is entirely within New York. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/47 "2021-09-26T02:42:49Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “Honolulu” means “sheltered harbor” or “calm port” in Hawaiian. And Waikiki means “spouting water.” ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/48 "2021-09-26T02:51:24Z")
Tucson is from the Tohono O’odham language - and means the black mountain, or something like that. Portage, Wisconsin was named that because it was a good spot to portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/49 "2021-09-26T04:25:22Z")
The Grand Canyon is named after a really grand canyon. [Table Mesa Rd](https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/table-mesa-road-trail). is named after a table that looks like a table. The Rincon Market is indeed on the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/50 "2021-09-26T05:11:08Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [Table Mesa Rd](https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/table-mesa-road-trail). is named after a table that looks like a table. Isn’t a name like “Table Mesa” redundant? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/51 "2021-09-26T06:05:52Z")
I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned that Mississippi means “big river” or “great river” in the Ojibwe language. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/52 "2021-09-26T06:33:11Z")
Boundary Bay: a bay with a boundary running through it. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/53 "2021-09-26T11:55:33Z")
Sunnyvale, California is a place that is often sunny among places that are often foggy. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/54 "2021-09-26T18:37:35Z")
Something makes me think you live on Whidbey. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/55 "2021-09-26T18:57:20Z")
Pennsylvania of course means Penn’s woods, which is a reasonable description. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/56 "2021-09-26T19:19:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned that Mississippi means “big river” or “great river” in the Ojibwe language. Then again, there is the Rio Grande, which means the same thing in Spanish. Although, 90% of the time, it is neither big nor great. According to legend, the guy who named it discovered it during the flood season, when it is “a mile wide and an inch deep”. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/57 "2021-09-26T19:19:38Z")
Don’t live there, but dream about it a lot. Used to live nearby. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/58 "2021-09-26T19:44:11Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Isn’t a name like “Table Mesa” redundant? Indeed. In another thread here a few weeks ago, someone gave the example of “The La Brea Tar Pits” in Los Angeles. As “La Brea” means “the tar” in Spanish, the name winds up being “The The Tar Tar Pits.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/59 "2021-09-26T22:37:52Z")
Arches National Park. [![](https://www.myutahparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Arches-DelicateArch-LaSalMountains_DP_1600.jpg) ](https://www.myutahparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Arches-DelicateArch-LaSalMountains_DP_1600.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/60 "2021-09-27T04:18:28Z")
It does not appear that Atascadero, Ca. has been mentioned yet in this thread. From a post I wrote about a year ago on the subject of weird city names: > [@"I shoulda turned left at Albuquerque"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shoulda-turned-left-at-albuquerque/920796/62): > > Cities do sometimes have weird, and sometimes uncomplimentary, names. Also in California is the city of Atascadero, which any Spanish speaker can tell you means a swamp or bog or mire, literally “a place where you get stuck” (from the verb atascar meaning “to get stuck”). The city administration prefers to describe the name as meaning “a place of much water”. In this city, there is a state hospital called Atascadero State Hospital. It looks like a prison from the outside: Tall guard towers, … That post, in full: > [@Senegoid](#): > > Cities do sometimes have weird, and sometimes uncomplimentary, names. Also in California is the city of Atascadero, which any Spanish speaker can tell you means a swamp or bog or mire, literally “a place where you get stuck” (from the verb atascar meaning “to get stuck”). > > The city administration prefers to describe the name as meaning “a place of much water”. > > In this city, there is a state hospital called Atascadero State Hospital. It looks like a prison from the outside: Tall guard towers, surrounded by a tall fence with razor wire. In fact, it is a prison hospital for the criminally insane. The people there aren’t going anywhere. Truly a well-named, well-located place where you get stuck. > > ETA: It’s in the same county (San Luis Obispo) as Pismo Beach. If you turned left at Albakerky on your way to Pismo Beach, be careful you don’t get stuck in Atascadero State Hospital! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264.md?page=4)