# Meatiest Upstate NY Indian place names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969 "2005-02-26T03:32:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/41 "2005-02-27T21:20:44Z")
> [@Mr. Goob](#): > > WKBW isn’t the same without Irv’s intro’s to the fire of the day stories now that he retired. Says something about how dull Buffalo is when that’s a highlight of the evening news. Maybe they just want people to feel warm… ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/42 "2005-02-27T23:05:09Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Channel 7 had that sort of format where, if it was a slow news day, the lead story on the 6 and 11 news would be a house on fire. The station would send a camera crew and a reporter to anything that was on fire. Very weird! I haven’t seen another station that thought it was that important. The reason for the heavy fire coverage on Eyewitness News was supposedly to appeal to the HUGE subculture of avid volunteer fireman in Buffalo’s blue collar suburbs, and thus boost ratings. Irv would find a fire in Jamestown, Olean or even Pennsylvania if there weren’t any in the Buffalo area the night before. Good 'ol [Cheektowaga](http://www.cyburbia.org/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=6147). Those living in the town often pronounce it “Chick-uh-tuh-VAG-uh der”. The rest of Western New York calls it “Cheektovegas” and “Cheektowarsaw.” In suburban Buffalo, there isn’t just one Tonawanda, but three - the Town of Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda, and the City of North Tonawanda. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/43 "2005-02-28T03:01:02Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > **Sunfish** , if my guess is correct, I helped get the money to build that park and gazebo! The town would be Harrisville; the consulting company I last worked for before moving south did quite a lot of work for them, including getting them a state grant for half the money to put in that park. Well, whaddya know? I just went digging through my photos from that trip, and in it I have a few pics that were taken at that stop. In the background of two of them, you can see a sign on a building across the street: “Jim Scanlon’s House of Bread, Harrisville, NY.” How cool is that? Talk about a small world! 😃 **Cartooniverse** , what land deal is this? I haven’t heard anything myself, and now I’m _very_ curious. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/44 "2005-02-28T04:02:32Z")
Watertown? Upstate? I grew up in Dannemora so I know upstate, eh. ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/45 "2005-02-28T04:29:09Z")
How about Schaghticoke? I also like Canadaigua. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/46 "2005-02-28T04:59:52Z")
I was going to post a list of Michigan’s tongue twisters, till in the course of googling I came across “Felch Mountain” :eek: Suddenly, the likes of Ishpeming, Meauwataka, and Ossawinamakee Beach seem less…postworthy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/47 "2005-02-28T14:06:50Z")
The one I like, since nobody who isn’t familiar with the area ever pronounces it correctly, is **Nunda** This is pronounced “Nun-Day”. I keep hoping that there’s a Nunda Hyundai, which ought to rhyme, but wouldn’t look that way to the uninitiated. (It’s up near Rochester, wehich also has the generally mispronounced **Chili** (Chi-Lie") as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/48 "2005-02-28T14:33:47Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I live in Orange County, New York. To folks from Brooklyn, I live Upstate. However, when someone asks where I live and I say Upstate, and upon being informed of where they bust into gales of laughter and say, " fellah I grew up in Watertown, **you** are not Upstate"… I can hardly argue. Guilty as charged. I had a conversation with a friend from Queens that went something like this: Friend: My parents have a summer place Upstate. Me: Really? Whereabouts? Friend: Monticello. I fell out of my chair laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/49 "2005-02-28T15:02:48Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > **Cartooniverse** , what land deal is this? I haven’t heard anything myself, and now I’m _very_ curious. Email me. It involves enough detail that I’m not comfortable writing it on the Internet. 🙂 However, it’s fascinating and I’ll be glad to send the info your way. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/50 "2005-02-28T16:44:09Z")
Well, if you mean mispronunciation, there’s always Valatie, which no one out of the Capital District knows how to pronounce correctly. It’s pronounced as though it was spelled “Valatia” – Va-lay-sha As for confusion, there’s also Quaker Street, which is a small village (with its own post office). Further, there is no Quaker Street in Quaker Street. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/51 "2005-02-28T20:47:48Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Well, if you mean mispronunciation, there’s always Valatie, which no one out of the Capital District knows how to pronounce correctly. > > It’s pronounced as though it was spelled “Valatia” – Va-lay-sha > > As for confusion, there’s also Quaker Street, which is a small village (with its own post office). Further, there is no Quaker Street in Quaker Street. My wifes brother lived in Valatia, correcting me every time I said VAL-A-TEE. He never caught on that I was screwing with him. Another place that stuck in my mind was SKANEATELES. Some years ago, Hillary Clinton was campaigning for Senator, and stopped for breakfast there. TV and the papers made a big deal of its pronunciation, and it is SKINNY ATLAS. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/52 "2005-03-01T21:57:52Z")
Sorry…No time to go back and verify who said what…To the poster who mistakenly located Skaneateles near the Hudson - perhaps you were thinking of Schenectady? And I’m surprised that our poster from Orange County didn’t point out to the one that mentioned Florida, Mass. that there’s a Florida in that county. I was going to mention Canandaigua, also, and Ronkonkoma, although, for the latter I couldn’t remember if it was in N.Y. or N.J. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/53 "2005-03-02T15:24:02Z")
My personal favorite is SCAJACQUADA Creek outside of Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/54 "2005-03-02T15:47:11Z")
`It’s not in Upstate New York, but the “Meatiest Indian Place Name” I know is the original name for Webster Lake in Webster, MA, near where I worked until just recently. The name is the longest lake name anywhere, and the fifth longest word in the world, according to the Guiness folks. The Indian name is: **Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg** From this site: [http://www.worcestermass.com/pronounce/webster2.shtml](http://www.worcestermass.com/pronounce/webster2.shtml) We have: History Notes: Indian word meaning “the boundary lake” (MGB, 1932) and “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fishes in the middle.” (US-T121). In 1642, Woodward and Saffery, the first surveyors of the Mass. Bay Colony, called it “The Great Pond.” In 1645, Conn. Gov. John Winthrop called it “The Lakes of Quabage.” After a 1707 survey, John Chandler recorded the name as “Chaubunnagungamoug.” According to Wise Owl, chief of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmucks, Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg was an Indian word for a neutral fishing place near a boundary - a meeting and fishing spot shared by several Indian tribes. A more popular, and some say, fanciful, interpretation is that it meant “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fishes in the middle”. Variant Names(s): Chabanakongkomom Pond Chaubunagungamaug Pond Chaubunghungamaug Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaug Lake Char-gogg-a-gogg-man-chogg-a-gogg Lake Chargoggaggmanchaugaggchabunagungamaug Lake Chargoggaggoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaug Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugaggoggchaubunagungamaug Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamau Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Lake Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg Lake Chargoggagogmanchaugagogchaubunagungamaug Lake Chargoggagogmanchogagog Lake Chargoggagogoggmanchauggagogghaubenagungamaugg Lake Chargoggogoggmanchauggagoggchaubenagungamaugg Lake Chaubunagungamaugg Lake Chaubunagungamauk Lake Chaubunnagungamoug Lake Chaugogagogmanchaugagogchaubunagungamaug Lake Webster The Great Pond The Lakes of Quabage Webster Lake Latitude: 420330N Longitude: 0715130W Map ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/55 "2005-03-02T16:24:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Indian name is: > > **Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg** Bitch. You win. 😃 😃 😃 Man, that’s a tasty one. For the record, I missed the Florida reference, and yeah it’s in Orange County. Ronkonkoma is on Long Island. ( Might be Nassau, might be Suffolk county. Not sure ). A branch of the LI Railroad is called the Ronkonkoma Branch. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/56 "2005-03-02T16:31:18Z")
Slight hijack: > [@The Chao Goes Mu](#): > > My personal favorite is SCAJACQUADA Creek outside of Buffalo. Actually, Scajaquada Creek is [_under_ Buffalo](http://wnyheritagepress.org/photosofweek/scajaquada/index.htm). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/57 "2005-03-02T20:34:33Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Bitch. You win. 😃 😃 😃 Man, that’s a tasty one. Can **Shagnasty** at least get an honorable mention for it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/58 "2005-03-02T21:11:42Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Slight hijack: > > Actually, Scajaquada Creek is [_under_ Buffalo](http://wnyheritagepress.org/photosofweek/scajaquada/index.htm). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969/59 "2005-03-03T00:21:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Cartooniverse > Bitch. You win. Man, that’s a tasty one. > > Can Shagnasty at least get an honorable mention for it? Eeeep! I missed that, somehow. Sorry, **Shag** Although I _do_ think I deserve points for actually having been there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meatiest-upstate-ny-indian-place-names/291969.md?page=2)