Ada, Bim, Gay, Gem, Job, Man, Odd, Ona, Pax, Poe, Rig, Rio, Sod, Tad, Van, War.
That’s 16. Can any other state beat that number? I doubt it.
Any story here? Coal company code system? Easier to read and write? Just naturally laconic?
GNIS has 49 3-letter placenames in WV. Or at least a file I downloaded some time ago does. Here’s a list:
Ada Ash Bim Bud Coe Dan Don Duo Eby Eli Elk Elk Eva Fry Gay Gem Gip Hix Hoy Hur Ira Ivy Jed Job Joy Lee Lex Man May Nye Odd Oka Ona Orr Orr Pax Pie Poe Rig Rio Six Sod Sue Sun Tad Uno Ury Van War
These are all considered populated places in the GNIS database, but the people who compiled it seem to have a fairly loose definition of populated place. Some are just rural localities. Possibly they used to be villages.
Also note that there are two Elk’s and two Orr’s. These are not duplicates since they are in different counties.
Now three letter placenames are not that uncommon. The file I got the above from has 749 of them, so there’s 700 of them in other states and territories (and former territories). Ideally, I’d now do some statistical analysis to see if WV really does have an inordinately high percentage of 3-letter placenames, but that sounds like a lot of work and it’s late at night and I don’t really have the time. Maybe someone else can download the file (it’s about 2.4 Meg) and do this analysis.
Some honest-to-God, ISwearIAmNotMakingThisUp stories of my travels to WV, followed by a WAG:
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In rural WV, about 12 years ago, hubby stopped to buy gas, and I decided to get some coffee. The man in the gas station asked what I wanted in that (“Whatchew waunt in thaaat?”) I asked him if he had any Equal. “Equal!” He exclaimed, “Whut’s thaaat? Some kinda fake milk??”
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On same trip to WV, we wanted to go canoing. Every place we asked, we got the same answer “Y’all got to to go Petersburg to rent a canoe”. So, we’re driving along, and see a little general store with a big sign out front that says “Canoe Rentals”, and figure “Oh, we’re in luck”. We go inside, and inquire at the counter about canoe rental. The woman looks at us like we’re from a different solar system, and says (in a tone that implies we should know such things) “You got to go to Petersburg to rent a canoe”.
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Different trip, same part of the state. Hubby and I decide we want to go see a movie, so we buy a local paper (about 8 pages thick) to see what’s playing. The front page story in said paper is about a meteor storm the night before. The article goes on to say that a number of locals gathered in a field to watch the meteor storm, but it was too cloudy; several times, they thought there was a meteor, but twice it was airplane lights, and once it was a firefly.
So not only can these folks (not all West Virginians, just this little group of them) not tell the difference between Equal and fake milk, Petersburg and a general store, or meteors and a firefly, but they actually display their ignorance on the front page of the newspaper.
Given the above, my WAG would be that in some parts of WV, 3 letters is all they can manage before they get confused.
So there’s a Gay, WV?
Imagine if you got married in that town. You could tell everyone you had a gay marriage, and then when they act surprised and say “Wait, you married a same-sex partner?” you could laugh at their ignorance of the situation.
No, silly, you got to go to Petersburg to get you a gay wedding!
rolleyes
Hijack: There is a Gay, MI. There is a bar in Gay appropriately named “The Gay Bar”.
It seems to be the main (if not only) buisiness in Gay. (There used to be a smelter or something)
Brian
It gets better. There’s a “Mount Gay”. Wedding announcements are interesting, I’ll bet. “Gay Man Marries Big Ugly Woman” - yes, there’s a ‘Big Ugly’.
My hometown newspaper, which I seldom see these days, actually misspelled the name of Kevin Costner’s new movie in the movie listings as ‘The Gaurdian’.
If you want to see an economy heavily dependent on gay bars, check out downtown Ogunquit, Maine.
I went there on my honeymoon. We checked out five bars, including one with a very nice Elton John impersonator, before we found one where my wife wasn’t the absolute only woman in there.
I like WV myself, it’s like going back in time 15 years (in a good way.)
And the mountain scenery is fantastic.
At the risk of perpetuating WV stereotypes–something I’m surprised to see being done by someone from the likes of Cumberland, MD–I’d like to point out that most of these short place names are found in the southern half of the state. It can be a bit backwards down there.
The same phenomenon might apply to rivers, as well. The north has the Monongahela, a word the Marshall grads could never hope to spell. Those in the south stick with fluvial names like “New.”
– Dave, North Central WV native, therefore allowed to make all the fun he wants
aerodave, I think you missed this part of my post:
See how that qualifier works? FWIW, we were in Elkins WV at the time. Also FWIW, if things work out the way we hope, we may actually move to Petersburg next year! 
My brother pointed this out to me:
What’s the first thing you see along the side of the road when passing from VA to WVa along 81? A trailer home. It’s true: I kid you not.
:eek: Wel, sht! Gud wrk.
VA has it’s share of trailers too. So do most other Southern states.