July 17, 2002

4:25 PM

Meta Incognita Peninsula, Anyone? Play The Place Names Game!If you're toponymy-mad like me, you'll love searching world-wide for strange, rude, funky or absurd place names on the Getty Thesaurus Of Geographic Names. Meta produced some fascinating results... [ Australia and Canada have their own excellent search machines and, even though the Getty machine is international, I was sorry not to find equally uncomplicated facilities for the known-to-be-hilarious U.K. or the U.S...].
posted by MiguelCardoso (15 comments total)

Are MetaFilter's spiritual origins in Oregon, for instance?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:27 PM on July 17, 2002

[small> Please forgive acceptable pre-emptive strike] :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:40 PM on July 17, 2002

Newfoundland has Bareneed, Blow Me Down, Come By Chance, Conception Bay, Dildo (and South Dildo), Hooping Harbour, Sweet Bay and Tickle Cove.
posted by timeistight at 4:43 PM on July 17, 2002

Toad Suck and the state park by the same name have always been favorites of mine. Judging from that link, it does seem that the south sucks a great deal. Including panthers. And Bear Suck Knob is just wrong.
posted by bargle at 4:56 PM on July 17, 2002

It's only 9.63 miles from Blue Ball to Intercourse.

This little tidbit has been my own personal smile-restoration device for nigh on 20 years now.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:24 PM on July 17, 2002

I am also a map-gazer. Bill Bryson's interesting and often hilarious book about English and American history, "Made in America," has a chapter about names, much of it about place names.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, changed its name in 1950 from Hot Springs to be on a radio game show, and now the host of the show has to come back to this desert outpost every year to be in the damn parade.

There is a Wynot High School in Wynot, Nebraska. Our Superior Bottom, in West Virginia, is clearly past its prime. Texas has dwindling towns named Cut and Shoot, Jot 'em Down and Looneyville. What's going on in Embarrass, Wisconsin, and Peculiar, Missouri?

Then and now pictures of zzyzx, California, which name you might have noticed driving from LA to Las Vegas. It's now a desert wildlife study center.

A lot of funny-named places in America had a background as mining camps, named by rather coarse folks and later quietly changed. The country used to have many Tit Mountains and such, but the Grand Tetons remain, veiled in French.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:53 PM on July 17, 2002

And without a paddle either, planetkyoto!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:58 PM on July 17, 2002

Don't get me started!
Bryson's book, Made in America.
posted by planetkyoto at 6:52 PM on July 17, 2002

Nice Site, but it seems I've gone down the drain, sadly...
posted by jonmc at 6:53 PM on July 17, 2002

Krusty the Clown: Memorize these funny place names. Walla Walla. Keokuk. Seattle.

Homer Simpson, in clown school: BWAH! Seattle!
posted by GaelFC at 7:35 PM on July 17, 2002

Cut n' Shoot, Texas. Not far outside of Houston.

Also, Nameless Hollow, where I used to vote when I lived way out in the sticks before Austin outgrew itself. There was a one room school house/post office/circuit judge place. Seriously. According to the plaque that sat outside said historically preserved building, when the area was first settled, the various ranchers around the area couldn't decide on a name, which annoyed the Postmaster General something fierce. And he said "Let this place be Nameless and let it be damned!". And so it was. :)
posted by dejah420 at 8:57 PM on July 17, 2002

Holy shit, dejah420, I live *right near* Nameless Road. Nameless Hollow is just a few miles away.

(I'm on Round Mountain. Damn. Not nearly as cool an address).
posted by beth at 9:25 PM on July 17, 2002

timeistight, this is for you (sorry about the long post)

A Night On Dildo - The Arrogant Worms

Umm, so this is a song about Newfoundland and we wrote it about the place names and all you have to know is that all the place names in this song are real place names that we found in an atlas, 'cause we can read!
Yeah, we can read!
Yeah, literacy!

Oh Newfoundland, oh Newfoundland, ya island in the sea
I love you oh so very much, I joined the Ministry
To show you people 'round the rock when tourist season's here
Although in my opinion it' s a gem throughout the year
Well if you're one for swimming, don't think it's outta reach
You can go and take a dip along Groswater Beach
I know the name's misleading, that's quite a problem here
Instead let's go to Goobies and have ourselves a beer

From Woody Point to Come-By-Chance to good ol' Ferryland
Come take a look at Gander, Blackhead's mighty grand
Don't let the names deceive you, Newfoundland's mighty fine
So spend a night on Dildo if you think you've got the time

Well you can go to Blow-Me-Down before it gets too dark (GASP)
Oh sorry ma'am, I should have said, that's our provincial park
There's also Whippet Harbour, or maybe Butter Pot
Or maybe I'll just hit the pub I'm feeling like a shot
Well you can sail on Quidi Vidi, or look at Joe Batt's Arm
There's Placentia and there's Cow Head (MOOO!), they're so full of charm
Get married down in Kilbride, have a party in Hate Bay
Or have some screech in Fogo and forget about the day

From Woody Point to Come-By-Chance to good ol' Ferryland
Come take a look at Gander, Blackhead's mighty grand
Don't let the names deceive you, Newfoundland's mighty fine
So spend a night on Dildo if you think you've got the time

Okay, the Drinkin' Verse

*sing drunkenly here*

From Woody Point to Come-By-Chance to good ol' Ferryland
Come take a look at Gander, Blackhead's mighty grand
Don't let the names deceive you, Newfoundland's mighty fine

So spend a night on Dildo if you think you've got the time
So spend a night on Dildo if you think you've got the time
So spend a night on Dildo if you think you've got the time
COD!
posted by krunk at 9:29 PM on July 17, 2002

I bow before you, Sir krunk.
posted by timeistight at 11:04 PM on July 17, 2002

krunk rulz!
posted by ColdChef at 6:58 AM on July 18, 2002