Of Fat Virgins and the Mouths of Mice

[muffinman]

*Originally posted by Telemark *
**“Fat Virgin and the Mouths of Mice” would make and excellent name for a band.
**

Sounds like Blues Traveler to me!

[MysterEcks]

And let’s not forget North East, Pennsylvania…which is in Northwest Pennsylvania. (It’s northeast of Erie, but that’s all it’s northeast of.)

[screech-owl]

“Did I Say Something Wrong?: Coverslut, Tittup, Fartlek, and Other Innocent Words to Make People Very Uneasy” by David Grambs, published by Plume Books. [Possibly out of print, but the ISBN is 0-452-26831-1. Well worth the search.]

Has a whole collection of common and not-so-common English words and phrases perceived as ‘dirty’, as well as an international tour of ‘…interesting…’ place names. Sections include agricultural terminology, job-titles, fashion, carpentry and many other subjects.

And I am still waiting on explanations about how Newfoundland’s ‘Joe Batt’s Arm’ and ‘Dildo Run Provincial Park’ got their names. Anybody?

As for “North East, PA”, I personally want to move to Long Island, NY and start my own town called “Upstate”.

[Revtim]

I currently live in Boca Raton, and I’ve also heard a theory that the Boca Raton Inlet and its lakes were once refuges for pirates, and the “rats” actually refers to them.

[Ringo]

Well all the town names we wonder about don’t have to be sexually suggestive. I’ve always liked Hot Coffee, Mississippi.

What was Baton Rouge (red stick), Louisiana all about?

[omni-not]

::sigh:: Must I do everything??

From (yes, you guessed it) Britannica.com:

The French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville visited the area in 1699 and observed a red cypress post (baton rouge) that marked a boundary between the Houma and Bayougoula Indians.

screech: I thought I had found an element of solution for Joe Batt’s Arm, but it proved to be a dud.

[dtilque]

Besides Joe Batt’s Arm, there’s also Jackson’s Arm, Robert’s Arm, Sop’s Arm and Norris Arm in Newfoundland. My WAG would be that arm in these names refers to an arm of the sea.

Newfoundland has a number of other odd place names. In addition to Dildo (mentioned earlier), it has Come By Chance, Heart’s Content, Blow Me Down, and Witless Bay.

[omni-not]

Here’s the answer I received from Heather Cumming*, Information Officer for Newfoundland Parks and Natural Areas:

The name Dildo Run has a marine emphasis. In old Newfoundland English, “Dildo” refers to a harbour that will provide safety from a gale of wind or a storm. Thus, “Dildo” comes from a reference to the cove or harbour. “Run” refers to fast moving water. It must mean one of two things:

1. There is quite a bit of current either in the harbour or “running” along the entrance to the harbour.

2. Or, there is a channel entrance to the harbour that vessels need to follow so they don’t go aground and become stranded. This type of channel is commonly referred to as a “run”.

This would be a logical explanation of the name Dildo Run for me. I hope it is of help to you.

Interesting.

*Yeah, like I could have made THAT one up!

[screech-owl]

Sounds linguistically logical.
Thanks.

[Re: the name - sounds like Officer Pigg working for the police department.]