# Obscure geographic regional names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008 "2016-07-27T05:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/81 "2016-08-13T18:05:28Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Those administrative boundaries were themselves based on geography and language, and the second group of entities I mentioned (the comarcas) are sometimes administrative (and when they are, have well-defined limits) and sometimes not. There are places where asking people “where would you put the limits between X and Y comarcas” is considered a perfectly fine game for winter afternoons; rarely do you encounter two people who will place the boundary at the same spot. OK, then tell us what they are. Or did you already with Navarra, Aragón, etc.? Those aren’t exactly obscure. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/82 "2016-08-13T19:42:30Z")
The Badlands of New Mexico. The word can refer to any desert region, but it often refers to lava fields surrounding ancient volcanoes. It is a translation of the Spanish term “malpais”. “Mal” = “bad” Pais" = “land” or “country” “Pais” is singular. The plural would be “paices”. But a lot of Anglos see the “s” on the end and assume it must be plural. So “malpais” gets translated as “badlands” rather than “badland”. When talking about a specific place, people will describe it as “a malpai” or “the malpai”. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/83 "2016-08-13T22:17:36Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Scablands of Washington State … always makes me laugh … WA should have known better than to pick it… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008.md?page=4)