# Street name importance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839 "2006-03-02T23:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/81 "2006-03-06T20:48:19Z")
There is a stretch of road at the touristic complex where I’m working that’s known by the locals as… hm… “Painfull Hill” would be a semidecent translation. “Hill of Woes” works too. The name comes from having being a +++++++++ to build. The owners intend to change the name to something cutiesounding, but us Spaniards tell them it’s just the kind of name that sounds exotic and typical to tourists. After all, places called Witch’s Rock and Bandit Road sell like crazy. ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/82 "2006-03-07T19:07:13Z")
Cockburn Street never fails to elicit a giggle from me. (I know it’s probably pronounced Coburn, but the sign says Cockburn, so there!) Also, in my hometown, we have a Short Street. It is indeed very short. It would be hard to find lodgings there, however, since =iIf I recall correctly, there is one house on it. And there is only room for one house on it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/83 "2006-03-07T19:28:06Z")
A co-worker of mine grew up on the corner of Seaman and Cumming in upper Manhattan. How can you go wrong with that? I don’t think it would make much of a difference to me, though I’m glad I have a nice simple tree name for my street. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/84 "2006-03-07T19:32:44Z")
I don’t have much to contribute as far as goofy street names, but on a sort of related note, while looking for employment I was reluctant to pursue \*Cox Media \* and down right refused to apply to _Dorcas Mfg_. Seems silly, I know, but I just didn’t think I could ever feel proud of working for a company called Dorcas. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/85 "2006-03-07T21:21:43Z")
A joke to preface my exception: What three streets in Chicago rhyme with “vagina”? Paulina, Melvina, and Lunt So yeah, I’d have a hard time living on that last street - I start to snicker when I say the name, even. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/86 "2006-03-12T23:55:53Z")
In Wilson, NC there was an intersection of Woodrow and Wilson Streets, and the owner of a big BBQ restaurant developed a neighborhood with one road named Chicken Drive. a proposed second street was to be Barbecue Road. There was also a Tobacco Road. That sign got stolen several times, as did the Hooker Road sign behind UNC-By-the-Sea in Wilmington, NC. I’d like to see, in a high tech industrial setting, Disk Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/87 "2006-03-13T02:42:44Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > I’d like to see, in a high tech industrial setting, Disk Drive. [Headquarters of Apple Computer](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=920+disc+drive,+scotts+valley,+ca&ll=37.04676,-122.015249&spn=0.002989,0.006781&t=h) ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/88 "2006-03-13T03:46:22Z")
Whenever I have to work with mailing lists for work, I love trying to find unusual street names. A street name wouldn’t stop me from buying a house, but it would be a plus if I especially liked the name. Right now, I live on Clermont Avenue. It’s named after Robert Fulton’s steamboat, and it intersects Fulton Street. This I think is pretty cool. My only complaint is that people often want to send mail to Clarmont with an “a” or even Clearmont. Growing up, we lived in a new-ish development where the streets are mostly named after woodsy type things. Trees or meadows, etc. Could be worse. Our particular street was Clearfield, and coincidentally, the first lot on the street remained vacant for more than 20 years. Then, someone purchased it and – my goodness – _built a house on it_. My mother is outraged, because her street no longer has a “clear field.” I agree my mother needs to get a hobby. I can only pray she never mentions this to the neighbors who live there. When we bought our own house, I was really hoping the street would have a great name. Unfortunately, it does not. It’s the not-very-melodic sounding German surname of the family who originally owned the neighboring farmland in the late 19th century. But then I started asking around about the name, and it turns out that a friend is a descendant of that family. I get a kick out of inviting him and his family over to spend some time on their ancestral lands. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/89 "2006-03-13T05:58:01Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I agree with **tomndebb**. None of these names would actually factor into my decision. If I like everything else about the house, why should a bad street name affect my decision at all? In fact, I thought those in this thread who said that they didn’t buy a place because of the street name were joking. I couldn’t imagine that they could be serious. I had the same reaction at first, but the examples along the lines of “Yankee Peddler Path” and “Chirping Meadowlark Lane” may have swayed me. Yechh! Many years ago I did subdevelopment work for a civil engineer. I drew maps with “Buttcrap Street” and “Dikshit Drive” (the latter was named after the Indian born developer but I never knew how the former came to be). I’m far less offended by those than these faux-pastoral concoctions. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/90 "2006-03-13T13:47:11Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Even Hitler Road? Even a long, unpronounceable Polish name? Even a **redneck** name liike “Lori Lynn Lane,” “Tammi Sue Court” or “[Dale Earnhardt Boulevard](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Dale+earnhardt+road,KANNAPOLIS+NC&ll=35.487222,-80.621944&spn=0.005233,0.005289)?” How about [Redneck Avenue](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Redneck+Avenue,+Little+Ferry,+NJ&ll=40.850112,-74.049397&spn=0.013634,0.052872) that runs in Moonachie and Little Ferry, New Jersey? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839/91 "2006-03-20T21:20:30Z")
Something I happened across while working: [Looney Road](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=95303&ll=37.500057,-120.628821&spn=0.029417,0.061498). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-name-importance/346839.md?page=4)