You forgot Knob Lick, Missouri which has been around since at least 1870.
Also Cockermouth in Cumbria -
Head-Smashed-In, Alberta. It was a buffalo jump used by Aboriginals for 5,500 years to kill bison by driving them off the 35-foot high cliff. But it’s not the buffalo whose heads are referred to in the name.
According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the bison plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling animals. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in.
And now you know… the rest of the story.
Too late for edit: Oh wow. I was ninja’d all up and down in post #27 by Chronos. But I did at least add why the name is not quite what it seems.
There’s a River Piddle in Dorset in the UK. (This isn’t going to fly if “piddle” isn’t used in American English. Piddle as in to pee unimpressively - it’s not a very impressive river).
There are also a number of towns along it which used to be named for the river - Turner’s Piddle, is an example - which have been bowdlerised to -puddle. Surprisingly, this happened in the last 50 or so years. I know this because my father worked with a man called Turner, and on a family holiday we had to divert via Turner’s Piddle to take a photo. He thought it was hilarious. This also gives me the chance to say, I am my own cite. Always wanted to do that.
j
Aside for historians: Tolpuddle, as in the Tolpuddle martyrs, is one of those towns. I can find plenty of sites on the 'net which argue that they should properly be called the Tolpiddle martyrs - but I don’t fully trust any of them.
Drove by this place earlier today.
That meaning is used in American. I recall years ago (long before the internet) that The Times published a letter from someone from Piddletrenthide and lots of others readers were amused by there being a town with that name. I didn’t (and still don’t) read the Times, but the whole episode was written up in another publication.
Americans also use “piddling” to refer to something small, insignificant, or inadequate. e.g.
- He’s from Smalllvile, a piddling nowhere in Kansas.
- That’s a really piddling excuse you’ve got there Smithers; you’re fired!
- That cheapskate wouldn’t even pay the piddling $3 for better seats at the show.
I’m not sure why, but to me “piddling” evokes a mental image of a puppy peeing, rather than a human. e.g. “Oh, no, Rover piddled on the rug!”
British TV has made me aware of Cockfosters, which is apparently a well-known tube station on the London Underground.
Well, I’m pleased to see that piddling is used in US English as well.
Now,
Lord knows Fosters lager is dreadful, but it did give the world one splendid joke, delivered with panache by Paul Hogan. The commercial it appears in has the sort of cultural stereotyping (which isn’t actually relevant to the joke) which was acceptable back in the day but not so much now; so I’ll present it as script rather than linking.
Scene: A London Underground station. A foreign tourist is puzzling over an underground map. He turns to Hogan and asks:
Tourist: Excuse me please - can you tell me the way to Cockfosters?
Hogan: Yeah, drink it warm mate. (To camera): Funny question…
j
There’s an old story about an airman who won the local golf tournament while stationed at Morón Air Base in Spain. But he was always reluctant to show off his trophy, on which was inscribed: FIRST PRIZE MORON.
And that just reminded me that one of the light rail lines in Sacramento has a stop called Manlove.
Do you pass thru Big Beaver?
Toad Suck Arkansas
See also from 50 posts and a week ago:
If we’re doing clothing there’s Bikini atoll
In that instance the swimsuit was actually named after the island. Supposedly the French (I think) fashion designer who invented the two piece woman’s swimsuit in the 1950s was trying to think of a name for this new piece of clothing, and heard a news report about the Americans testing the first hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll, and decided to go with that.
Which is not to be confused with the “No Bikini Atoll,” from Beany and Cecil.
