# You wouldn't believe this name...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 5, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083 "2002-09-05T03:59:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083/1 "2002-09-05T03:59:39Z")

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Aparently, the town of Webster MA proudly boasts the name of their local body of water:

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

which means (in Nipmuck - a tribe I’ve never heard of before even though I’m from MA) “You fish on that side, I’ll fish on this side, and no one will fish in the middle.”

How’s that for mundane pointless stuff I must share, huh? 😃

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083/2 "2002-09-05T04:04:42Z")

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Yeah that is cool. I live in MA too and just remembered that I read about this lake in one of those useless facts book when I was a kid in Louisiana. Here is a link to a picture of the welcome sign if anyone doesn’t believe it.

[http://www.teresco.org/pics/worcester-20010323-25/lake.html](http://www.teresco.org/pics/worcester-20010323-25/lake.html)

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**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083/3 "2002-09-05T20:37:57Z")

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Us locals call it “Webster Lake.”

😃

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083/4 "2002-09-05T21:50:18Z")

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A friend of mine was married last year in the Church at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (in Wales)

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**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-wouldnt-believe-this-name/127083/5 "2002-09-05T22:20:15Z")

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The name is kind of a UL in a way… It’s more or less Nipmuc for “neutral fishing place shared by many tribes”. But yeah, everyone calls it “Webster Lake”.