# when you come from a place with a pseudo-embarassing name...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 21, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009 "2005-08-21T18:48:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/41 "2005-08-23T12:57:58Z")

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> [@dbuzman](#):
>
> I used to live in Home, Pa. “Where are you from”? “Home”. “Smartass”. “No, seriously the town is called Home”. That’s how alot of conversations used to go.

I used to know a wildlife rehabber in Home. Her husband was a trucker. Returning from a run into Canada, there were some problems at the border. He was very tired, and was going to find a place to sleep once he was back in the US.

The border people asked where he was headed. He replied, “Home”. They smiled, and said, yes we know that, but exactly where are you going . . . “Home”. He was so exhausted that he almost wound up under arrest before one of them noticed his driver’s license address.

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**Author:** ![Wolfgrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@Wolfgrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfgrrl)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/42 "2005-08-23T15:31:26Z")

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> [@marque elf](#):
>
> As freshman are wont to do the first week of school, we opened every conversation with “Where are you from?” One answer came back “Athol, Ma.” pronouncing it with a long “a” sound. All of us in the dormroom burst out laughing. He looked at us like we’d all collectively lost our minds and demanded to know what was so funny. I told him that his town’s name was dangerously close to “asshole” pronounced with a lisp. He looked stunned and said that nobody had ever said that before. I asked whether rival high school football fans hadn’t figured out how to use the school’s name to mock it. He said that that had never happened. I was grievously disappointed by the creativity of Massachusetts high scool students.

I first heard of Athol when I was probably about 10, a radio news report kept referring to ‘an Athol man.’ I don’t know anyone who’s ever heard of Athol who doesn’t think it’s funny, so I don’t know what rock that kid lived under. One of my personal favorites is Mianus, CT - I’ve no idea how it’s pronounced, just have driven by many times and always wanted to stop for a picture of the Entering Mianus sign. And of course, there’s Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard, which a few years ago, sadly (depending on your perspective, certainly as far as this thread is concerned anyway), decided to change its name back to the original Native American name, Aquinnah.

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**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/43 "2005-08-23T15:57:20Z")

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Joining the other jokes about Saskatchewan, I live in Prince Albert.

I always said that if I started a piercing parlor, I’d use the slogan ‘Best Prince Albert’s in Prince Albert’.

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/44 "2005-08-23T15:59:43Z")

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> [@kushiel](#):
>
> Joining the other jokes about Saskatchewan, I live in Prince Albert.

How did you get them to let you out of the can? 😃

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/45 "2005-08-23T16:06:25Z")

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> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> Drove by a Londick Road, yesterday. Thought about getting a picture next to the sign.

There is a Reddick Road in Santa Barbara.

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**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/46 "2005-08-23T16:32:20Z")

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> [@Northern Piper](#):
>
> He said, “hmm - wondered if that was how to pronounce it, but was afraid it sounded rather … suggestive.”
> 
> Of course, we flatlanders never even think about it, but I’ve heard comments along those lines before.

I think someone has made some variation on this comment anytime I’ve been anywhere in the US for a conference or a meeting.

“Your city rhymes with bunt.” :eek:

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-come-from-a-place-with-a-pseudo-embarassing-name/318009/47 "2005-08-23T18:34:51Z")

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There are two villages in Suffolk , **Rickinghall-Inferior** and\*\* Rickinhall-Superior\*\*. I wonder if the inhabitants of the former feel they are second-class citizens compared to their “superior” neighbours, and if it ever leads to name-calling or worse.

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