# Descriptive place names

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264>\
**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:** 4\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/121 "2022-02-06T23:57:18Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> He was buried under the buffalo who fell from the cliff, and when he was found, he was dead, his head having been smashed in.

He wasn’t the eponymous Two Dogs Fucking, was he?

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**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:** [February 7, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/122 "2022-02-07T18:43:24Z")

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There is a heritage site in Alberta called “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.” I think it was an actual site where they stampeded buffalo (bisons, actually) over a cliff.

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**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:** [February 7, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/123 "2022-02-07T18:45:08Z")

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> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> There is a heritage site in Alberta called “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.”

There is, indeed. It even has the most-excellent URL: headsmashedin.ca.

> **[Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site](https://headsmashedin.ca/)**
>
> Where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains sits one of the world’s largest, oldest, and best-preserved buffalo jumps.

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descriptive-place-names/951264/124 "2022-02-12T04:55:33Z")

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Per Erwin G. Gudde’s _California Place Names,_ the location was merely “COALING” [Station]. An A was added not to distinguish it from COALING B, but merely to make it more “sonorous.” Perhaps a process like our modern-day creations of “Tar-jhay” or “Club M” for McDonald’s.

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