"Faraway Places with Strange Sounding Names.....
 

What are some of the stranger names of places that you have been or would like to go to~

Would you believe there is a Hooker, Oklahoma? I saw someone from there with a t-shirt saying "I went to the Hooker reunion."

I have three:

Ouazazate, Morocco
Ouagadougue, Burkino Faso
Ganerazhou, Zimbabwe

Not really places, so much as street/lane/road names.

Barefoot Lane
Mousehouse Street
Cutthroat Lane

But speaking of strange and/or funny place names, I found the following website that you all might enjoy:

http://www.geoexplorer.co.uk/sections/place_names.htm

Been there:
Honolulu, Alaska.
Red Devil, Alaska.
Rest and Be Thankful, Scotland (on the way to Muck).
Pumpkin Center, California.
Drain, Oregon, not too far from Riddle.
Sappho, Washington, down the road from Humptulips.

Right here at home in Massachusetts, Buzzards Bay and a series of towns named for body parts: Marblehead, Braintree, and Athol.

I've heard of a place called Boring, Oregon.

Sorry, not really strange or far...I don't follow directions well!

Bastard (Norway)
Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK)
Chinaman's Knob (Australia)
Climax (Colorado, USA)
Dikshit (India)
Dong Rack (Thailand-Cambodia border)
Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA)
Little Dix Village (West Indies)
Pis Pis River (Nicaragua)
Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines)
Shag Island (Indian Ocean)
Tittybong (Australia)
Twatt (Orkney, UK)

A little town near me called Nonesuch. They have turned the now defunct school into an antique mall with a wonderful restaurant in the basement called the Glitzhttp://www.irishacresgallery.com/restaurant.html You must try it if you are ever in the area.

Accident and Detour, Maryland--both real town names.

When I was a teenager living in Germany, my father was a Captain in the US Army. He was communicating by radio with a new lieutenant while on manuevers one day. The lieutenant was lost. My father asked if he had seen any road signs with town names on them.

The lieutenant replied "Yes, sir--I keep seeing signs for some town called Umleitung."

Umleitung translates as detour.

I think the prettiest name I've ever encountered was a town in Guatemala named Solola. It just rolls off the tongue.

I am also very fond of the village names around Oaxaca that are part Spanish and part Indian:
San Bartolo Coyotepec
San Martin Tilcajete
San Francisco Telixtlahuaca
(pronunciation guide provided upon request)

ChatNoir

I'm sure you will win the prize for the best list of names!!!

It certainly put a smile on my face after a hard day at work.

Oh I agree Sue! Now whenever somebody mentions Okney I'll think of ChatNoir!

Piapot, Saskatchewan.

Actual places I have been:

Hell, Cayman Islands
Pennis, Scotland
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch, Wales

Now you're 'aving a laugh. There's nowhere called Pennis in Scotland... Pennan, but not Pennis.

I do know that the undertaker in Twatt used to drive around with a sticker in the back window of his hearse in support of the local anti drinking campaign.

It said "Arrive alive in Orkney"

Deep in the Ozarks, around my old hiking turf - Bald Knob, Missouri.

In Rossendale, Lancashire (UK) there are two parts to the Village of Ramsbottom; Lower Ramsbottom,..... and I am sure you can guess the other!

Gee, thanks ChatNoir.
I can't stop chuckling and it's been 10 minutes since I read your post.

There are several places in Mississippi with unusual names.

Soso, MS
Hot Coffee, MS
Rolling Fork, MS
D'lo, MS (named because when someone arrived there they exclaimed "This place sure is damn low.")

and I don't think anyone has named

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

sheila, I kid you not. There is a huge sign on the road with the name Pennis on it. People were stopping to take photos of it. It is near the Skeabost Country House Hotel and Lough Snizort on the Isle of Skye. Next time you are there look for the sign.

Oh alright.... 40+ miles west of my home in Northern Minnesota you can go from Fertile MN to Climax MN.

living near lancaster Pa, I have been to Intercourse, Blue Ball and Bird In Hand many times! Also in pa there is a scotland, egypt, and Lebanon (my hometown) and also a California university. Also you cant forget about the Hershey Highway

Here's a few more:

Gun Barrel City, Texas
Rough and Ready, California
Dismal, Tennessee
Lollipop, Texas

and the town's name that I chuckle at every time I drive through it on the way to Austin -Dime Box, Texas

Been there -- close to Trondheim, Norway is the little town called Hell.

And, Surfergirl, along Germany's Romantic Road there's a sign that points to Hellenbach.

Next time I go to New Zealand I definitely want to visit this place - Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

It translates roughly to: The brow [or summit] of the hill [or place], where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid [down], climbed [up] and swallowed mountains, [to travel the land], [who is] known as the Land Eater, played [on] his [nose] flute to his loved one.

Imagine if all names where this descriptive! :)

Federico

I can't believe that no one has added a list of some of the special names from my home province of Newfoundland!

Communities with names like:

Heart's Content
Little Heart's Ease

just have to conjure up mental imagery of the weary sailor home from the sea.

While names such as:

Exploits
Salvage
Baie d'Espoir

have got to get you pondering lonely ships tossed on cold forbidding seas and stalwart sailors going to the bottom of the icy Atlantic with last fleeting thoughts of home and hearth.

And then there are the just plain interesting and/or quirky:

Goobies
Come By Chance
Pushthrough
Garnish
Tickle Cove

And the all-time favourite, of course -

Dildo

Linda

Muff, Ireland

How about Bangkok's full name??

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Which translates, roughly to The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

No wonder the locals call it "Krung Thep" for short :D

Wart, Germany

No, we didn't go there - just saw a signpost on the road.

Speaking of strange or funny place names....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3492672.stm

I'm rather fond of European towns' names turning up in the most un-European environments possible. I admire the immigrants' (I presume) desires to remember the old home town, but really...?

Paris, Texas - Oui oui y'all;
Aberdeen, Washington - You'll have had yer spotted owl?
Glasgow, Montana - the only thing named Clyde is the bartender;
Moscow, Idaho - KFC, not KGB
Rome, NY - Eternal at least for now;
Naples, Florida - Better drivers?
Toledo, Ohio - <i>What</i> were they thinking?

More...?

A cute story about places with strange names...
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Wo...ffiles261.html

I'm surprised you missed Florence, Oregon, Gardyloo. Or maybe, like I, you had nothing clever to say about it.

Hmmm... More loggers, less loggias? Or... Mangia at Mo's? Struggling here.

Hopeulikit, between Augusta and Savannah, Georgia.

I did not.

Flushing, New York
Hicksville, New York

ttt

Chugwater, Wyoming