# Strangely named places you've been to **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629 "2019-11-18T22:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/21 "2019-11-19T05:32:55Z")
Seldom Seen, Ontario. It’s in the township of Whitchurch-Stouffville. It is a town at the end of a dead-end road. But in the past, it had good access to all kinds of lumber, which was a hot commodity in 19th century southern Ontario–and which proved to be too expensive to get out, since other local forests had handier access to road and rail transportation routes. Today, Seldom Seen is more of an unincorporated hamlet. I’ve been there, and there are still a few occupied homes, but no commercial businesses. You don’t go to Seldom Seen without a good reason to, which is how the town got it’s name. Without any through traffic, and nothing to attract people to it, it really was “Seldom Seen.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/22 "2019-11-19T06:25:09Z")
Spent a lot of time in Wabuska. Indian for ‘White Grass’. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/23 "2019-11-19T09:17:25Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > I once went to East Aurora, New York, which happens to be 98 miles WEST of Aurora, New York. Huh. That’s about the distance and direction from Woodstock, NY to…well, you know, _Woodstock_. Some weird tesseract in the upstate NY spatial fabric. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/24 "2019-11-19T10:25:27Z")
I’ve been to A, just [A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85,_Moskenes). Now I just need to find a place called Z and my journeys will be over. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/25 "2019-11-19T10:45:53Z")
I’ve been to Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein That’s Afrikaans for “The spring where two buffalo were killed with one shot”. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/26 "2019-11-19T11:48:37Z")
Not at all politically correct and requiring explanation: Quick cockney rhyming slang primer: Iron = Iron hoof = poof = homosexual man. And yes it is derogatory. Welcome to [Ironsbottom](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2080237,-0.1995142,3a,75y,204.1h,94.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxnl2VJTt5zm7peMt_Vxxmw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656). To add a layer of mystification, the pub at Ironsbottom is called [The Three Horseshoes](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g504181-d2547416-Reviews-Three_Horseshoes_Inn-Reigate_Surrey_England.html) - a horseshoe being the iron hoof in question. If you see what I mean. j ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/27 "2019-11-19T12:03:46Z")
[Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) " [The] church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the] pool (pwll)[15] of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near [lit. “over against”] (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (-ogo[f] goch)." ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/28 "2019-11-19T12:05:37Z")
I’ve been to Yeehaw Junction, FL a couple of times. In Sarasota, FL, there is a road that for part of the way is called Tuttle, and then changes its name to Swift, so it is know as Swift-Tuttle occasionally, but has nothing at all to do with the Swift-Tuttle comet. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/29 "2019-11-19T12:40:06Z")
There’s a former stagecoach stop in Idaho called Fannys Hole, now deserted. Actually, there’s a Fannys Upper Hole and a Fannys Lower Hole, and I’ve been in both of them. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/30 "2019-11-19T12:55:45Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I thought it was named after the nearby French King Motel. Nope. see the Wikipedia entry. It’s not named after the nearby French King Restaurant, either (which we’ve eaten at). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/31 "2019-11-19T13:35:38Z")
I went to **Mount Desert Island** a couple months ago; the only place I know of that’s named for three different geologic features. It’s on the coast of Maine, and home to Acadia National Park. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/32 "2019-11-19T13:58:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I went to **Mount Desert Island** a couple months ago; the only place I know of that’s named for three different geologic features. It’s on the coast of Maine, and home to Acadia National Park. The name seems anomalous, considering that it’s covered with trees. But, apparently, in colonial days it was pretty sparse. You want to see a real desert up that way, go to the **Desert of Maine**. > **[Desert of Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_of_Maine)** > > The Desert of Maine is a natural curiosity and privately owned tourist attraction whose main feature is a 20-acre (8.1 ha) expanse of barren glacial sand in the town of Freeport, Maine, United States. The area was de‑vegetated by poor farming practices in the 19th century. > The land that encompasses the Desert of Maine became a farm in 1821 when it was purchased by the Tuttle family. Like other Maine farmers of the era who were struggling to compete in an expanding agricultural market, the Tu... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/33 "2019-11-19T16:02:32Z")
Panama has quite a few. My favorite is the _Rio Culo Seco_, literally the “Dry Ass River.” No idea why it’s called that. Nearby is the _Rio Bailamonos_, the “Dancing Monkeys River.” A couple of now defunct towns near the present Canal were called _Ahorca Largato_, “Hang the Lizard” and _Cucaracha_, “Cockroach.” A still existent town is Diablo [Devil] Heights. Elsewhere in Panama there is the _Rio Teta_, “Tit River,” and _Cruce de Mono_, “Monkey Crossing.” There’s also a village named _Guay_, funny mainly because it’s pronounced approximately like “Why?” in English. One of the main thoroughfares in Panama City is Via Ricardo J. Alfaro, which is never called that but universally referred to as _Tumba Muerto_, “Tomb of the Dead.” The tale goes that many years ago there were dairy farms out that way. The farmers complained that the vendors who came to get their milk arrived too late in the morning. The vendors said they dared not head out before dawn, because of a ghost who haunted an old tomb on the route. One the dairy farmers scoffed at this, and said he would go by there at night to prove there was no ghost. But a trickster placed a sheet in a tree attached to a rope, which he lowered and jiggled around when the farmer approached. The farmer shot at it and fled in terror, and the area has been called that ever since. As an item of trivia, Panama City is the only city where the name of the city, province or state, and country is the same: Panama, Panama, Panama. (The official name of the city is just Panama, not Ciudad de Panama.) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/34 "2019-11-19T16:38:04Z")
We have the completely unremarkable - except for the name - pedestrian bridge under the railway in Castleford. Tickle Cock Bridge - It even has a Wiki entry too [Tickle Cock Bridge - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tickle_Cock_Bridge) We have a couple of the better known UK ones such as Crackpot > **[Crackpot Village](https://www.helenbushe.com/crackpot/)** > > A walk around Crackpot village in the Yorkshire Dales. Lovely village but for cyclists it stand at the bottom of a huge climb Penistone - I can never understand why folk find this place name funny, but there ya go, but that’s likely because we say it as ‘penny - stun’ Butt hole lane - in Conisborough Also ‘Gringley on the Hill’ no reason for it to be funny but it is. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/35 "2019-11-19T16:51:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I went to **Mount Desert Island** a couple months ago; the only place I know of that’s named for three different geologic features. It’s on the coast of Maine, and home to Acadia National Park. Back where I grew up, [Torpenhow Hill](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Torpenhow+Hill/@54.7396816,-3.2435348,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x487cd80ae3515097:0xe19724eec4906ea1!8m2!3d54.73967!4d-3.23478) is supposedly named for the **same** feature 4 times. _Tor_ = hill; _Pen_ = hill… you get the idea. When I lived round those parts, while Torpenhow obviously existed, nobody ever said, that I can remember, “Torpenhow Hill” - I think adding “Hill” just represented too good an opportunity to miss. Plus there seems to be [some debate about exactly how many tautologies there are](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpenhow_Hill). Anyway, it’s a good story, and this is even better: it’s pronounced _Tropennah_. Trust me, I’m local. j ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/36 "2019-11-19T17:17:58Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Spent a lot of time in Wabuska. Indian for ‘White Grass’. I have used Exit 69 on I-75 in Michigan. The exit is for Big Beaver Road!! ---
**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:** [November 19, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/37 "2019-11-19T18:07:51Z")
On route I-15 going through southern Utah you see some strange exit markings. That’s because the place is very sparsely settled. You have exits for individual ranches, because there’s no actual town nearby. (If the Cartwrights had lived in Utah, there’d be an exit marked “Ponderosa”) One of the weirdest exits is marked “Browse”. It’s not a town, or a ranch. It’s a deer browse – a place where they put out food for deer to eat. You’re not supposed to pull off there unless you’re a State official feeding the deer, so I haven’t technically been to **Browse**. But I’ve passed the exit on I-15. It’s exit 30, here – [All Exits along I-15 in Utah - Northbound | iExit Interstate Exit Guide](https://iexitapp.com/exits/Utah/I-15/North/90) > **[All Businesses at Exit 30 (Browse) along I-15 in Utah | iExit Interstate Exit...](https://www.iexitapp.com/Utah/I-15/Exit%2030/10798)** > > All Businesses located at Exit 30, Browse, I-15, Southbound, Utah > **[Browse, Utah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browse,_Utah)** > > Browse is an unincorporated area of Washington County in southwestern Utah near Interstate 15. Browse is in a transitional climate zone as it is located between St. George, Utah at about 2800 feet above sea level in the Mojave Desert and Cedar City, Utah in the Great Basin at nearly 5900 feet. The Hurricane Cliffs, part of the Colorado Plateau, are directly to the east. This area contains species of desert plants and animals in one location that otherwise would be unique to each of the three ... ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/38 "2019-11-19T18:16:49Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Ragged Ass Road, Yellowknife, NWT My brother and his neighbors named the road they lived on ‘Four Wheel Drive’, which is now the official name of it. It deserved the name. I really want to visit [Dickshooter, ID](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickshooter,_Idaho). It was named for a pioneer by the name of Dick Shooter. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/39 "2019-11-19T18:22:51Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Ragged Ass Road, Yellowknife, NWT Like with this [xkcd comic](https://xkcd.com/37/), I am now picturing a ragged ass-road. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629/40 "2019-11-19T18:46:57Z")
Dead Ox Flat on the Oregon side of the Snake river. Alkali soils and all that. The thing is, in that region “Dead something something” is common enough. It’s the “Flat” that’s seems strange. Irrigation was brought in in the 30s and completely unknown photographer by the name of Dorthea Lange was brought in by the Feds to document it. Start browsing [here](https://www.loc.gov/search/?fa=location:dead+ox+flat). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangely-named-places-youve-been-to/843629.md?page=3)