I have fallen in love with American names

[cali]

This article reminded me of a S. Benet poem of that name:

Vermont Place Names: From Ticklenaked Pond To Horseneck Island

http://digital.vpr.net/post/vermont-place-names-ticklenaked-pond-horseneck-island

Here's part of this poem:

I have fallen in love with American names,
The sharp names that never get fat,
The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,
The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,
Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.

What are some of the weird/wonderful names in your state?

[ALBliberal]

1. Truth or Consequences (T or C) New Mexico

the town was originally Hot Springs NM but renamed when the old Bob Barker game show filmed an episode there.

[Nye Bevan]

7. Oh, that featured in last week's episode of Doctor Who!

Sorry, pardon my nerdiness.....

[trof]

89. Ralph Edwards

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

102. Home of Cactus Jack

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Yeehaw Junction. Fort Lonesome. Intercession City. Christmas. Cross City. Neptune Beach. Frostproof.

Not to mention some of the cool Native American names: Micanopy, Okahumpa, Apalachicola.

[sufrommich]

13. Yeehaw Junction..I love that. Michigan has a Christmas too. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

25. Yeah, it's actually a great place to pee on a long Florida Turnpike drive.

They do have the historic Desert Inn (not really in a desert, but it's scrubland, so I guess it's close). I've haven't been there yet though, although it was a setting in one of Tim Dorsey's wacky Florida based novels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Inn_and_Restaurant

[KamaAina]

61. Mom and I had some damn good catfish there once.

At a little joint right off the Turnpike.

[tclambert]

85. Michigan also has a Hell, about three and half miles SW of Pinckney.

(Of course, the real Hell is 214 miles SSE of Pinckney.)

[KamaAina]

97. This one?

(Of course, the real Hell is 214 miles SSE of Pinckney.)

"Go south until you smell it, then east until you step in it."

[Arugula Latte]

91. Yeehaw Junction sounds like it was a made-up name of a town in a 1960s TV show.

[lpbk2713]

27. Frostproof and Two Egg also come to mind.

...

[Liberal_in_LA]

111. I love that name.. yeehaw

[First Speaker]

3. CT, I fear, is rather staid and dull when it comes to names...

...old English names, some Indian...the most eccentric we get is stuff like Tariffville and Baltic. Though we do have Lamentation Mountain, where returning Revolutionary veterans who caught smallpox had to live out their lives, unable to return home...

[KamaAina]

62. Oh, come on. The original Podunk is in Connecticut.

[First Speaker]

114. How could I have missed that...?

...I travel on Podunk Road quite a bit...LOL...

[Tree-Hugger]

4. Ours are good for giggles

Intercourse
Blue Ball
Bird-in-Hand

[dixiegrrrrl]

82. Penn. has an Intercourse, too?

too funny....we have a town in Ala. named that.

Either someone had fun traveling and naming, or the term means something else and was quite common years ago.

[Tree-Hugger]

99. Yep

Do you have an Amish population down there? Our towns of Intercourse, Blue Ball, and Bird-in-Hand were named by the Amish. Virginville, too.

[struggle4progress]

120. It's not too far from Paradise PA, in fact. But if you make a wrong turn, you can find yourself

at Blue Ball or at Bird in Hand

Really

These jokes almost write themselves

[dixiegrrrrl]

87. "Intercourse is named for an intersection, which was called an "intercourse" at the time"

just found that on the web.

Intersting.

But.....Blue Ball....

[Tree-Hugger]

101. I dunno

I guess if you didn't get into Intercourse, you'd be stuck in Blue Ball, which would eventually lead to Bird-in-Hand.

[phylny]

152. Your brilliance made my head explode.

Spectacular!

[FLPanhandle]

5. Florida has a many that are just fun to say

Wewahitchka (locals just call it WeWa)

Apalachicola

Steinhatchee

Mossy Head

Homosassa

Chassahowitka

Kissimmee

[Cassiopeia]

72. Okefenokee

[historylovr]

113. I haven't heard anyone talk about WeWa in ages.

Fished there with my aunt and uncle a few times when I was a kid.

Chattahoochee is another fun name.

[Brickbat]

6. Castle Danger, Mountain Iron, Blue Earth, Ball Club, Federal Dam, Young America, Marble,

Albert Lea, Sleepy Eye, Embarrass, Twig...

[Brickbat]

26. And Blooming Prairie.

[geardaddy]

75. Yellow Medicine, Pipestone, Savage, Wanda...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

106. Don't forget Climax and Fertile.

[Thor_MN]

171. Nowthen, Kiester, Echo, Harmony, Dent, Cosmos

[Ptah]

8. Why, Arizona

[Kali]

69. and Tombstone

Show Low, Tuba City

[Ptah]

150. I like Shiprock, New Mexico.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. In Mississippi:

Midnight, Alligator, Hot Coffee, and Buzzard Roost

[FLPanhandle]

10. Mississippi itself is a fun name to say. nt

[MindPilot]

29. My favorite on the just plain fun to say list...

Rancho Cucamonga

[Art_from_Ark]

184. I liked the way it was pronounced in Bugs Bunny cartoons

Koooooooooooo-ka-mun-ga

[sufrommich]

11. Bad Axe,Michigan. nt

[cali]

31. That's fantastic

[sufrommich]

39. It was named by surveyors who found a damaged axe nearby, but

there isn't a kid who grew up in Michigan who hasn't been told it was named for a crazed killer and believed it

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Texas

Cut 'n' Shoot
Dimebox
Nimrod
Elmo
Kermit

[Javaman]

16. my fave...

Ding Dong, Texas. Located in Bell county.

[hobbit709]

58. My wife was born in Kermit but raised in Palestine.

There's Gun Barrel City, Concrete, Uncertain, Notrees.

[ladyVet]

126. I used to live about ten miles from Dimebox.! Cute little place to visit back then. nt

[TexasBushwhacker]

157. One of my college roommates used to go there

to go country western dancing.

I read that they came up with the name because the town was so tiny it didn't have a post office. They did have a mailbox though, so if you wanted to mail a letter, you put it in the box with a dime.

[kentauros]

166. Whon, Texas.

I'd read somewhere that it was named thusly because the locals didn't know how to spell "Juan"

The excerpt below simply says it's the "Anglicized" spelling.

[font size="3"]WHON, TEXAS[/font]
Whon is at the junction of Farm Road 2633 and county road LR, in far southeastern Coleman County. Its name is an Anglicized version of Juan, the name of a Mexican cowboy who once lived on the McCain Ranch. Sam H. McCain bought Mrs. Wagie Cooper's half section on Camp Creek in 1903, and Mrs. McCain became postmistress the same year. Tom Holmes built the first house, and Jackson Lindsay was the first schoolteacher. By the 1920s the town had a cotton gin, a public school and teacherage, two churches, and a number of stores and businesses. During Prohibition, the countryside along the Colorado River south of Whon was a popular hideout for bootleggers. As small-scale cotton farming in the area decreased, the community began to decline. In 1940 Whon had a store, a post office, and sixty people; by 1949 the population had dropped to thirty. The town was relatively isolated until 1967, when the first paved road reached the community. The population was estimated at fifteen in 1966. The post office, which had become a unique drive-in facility in 1961, was still operating in the 1980s. A number of old structures, including the teacherage and the remains of the McCain family's dugout home, were still standing. At one time Whon was thought to be at the exact center of the state, until a surveyor's error of ten miles was discovered. Through 2000 the population was still reported at fifteen.

[TexasBushwhacker]

169. Then there's Mexia

which is pronounced muh-HAY-ah. Hometown of Anna Nicole Smith.

[Justitia]

177. Bigfoot, TX

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Colorado where I lived for many years.. towns that are real

been to through 5 out of 10 of these towns in Colorado



Spook City

Fearnowville

Wideawake

Wondervu


Troublesome


Plastic

Old Roach

http://www.westword.com/news/photos-ten-weirdest-names-of-colorado-towns-5877743

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. I am post 14 you are 19

yeah . .. parents bought a house in Crested Butte
in 1969..... for $8000 dollars ......

lived in Colorado for many, many years.

[snooper2]

15. Weed, California - But nothing in the World beats Fucking, Austria

[Kali]

70. there is a Weed, New Mexico too.

[DFW]

123. Is that with or without the comma? n/t

[Tom_Foolery]

18. In Kentucky...

To name a few:

Monkey's Eyebrow
Booger Branch
Beaver Lick
Sugar Tit
Hippo

[reddread]

68. big bone lick

[Tom_Foolery]

93. Yeah, I think Big Bone Lick butts against Beaver Lick...

[reddread]

105. right there on Highway 69

[Tom_Foolery]

109. Can't top that...

[liam_laddie]

132. How 'bout Rabbit Hash (KY) on the O-hi-o River; population about 300.

The current mayor is Lucy Lou, a brunette&white border collie, elected in 2008.
She may run for President in 2016, per an announcement this past September.

[Tom_Foolery]

134. I've heard about it...

I live in a town on the Ohio myself.

[Buzz Clik]

20. Colorado

Manitou Springs
Berthoud
Buena Vista
Denver
Wolf Creek Pass
Salida


Not as interesting as Ticklenaked whatsis

[NV Whino]

23. OMG! I just discovered Timbuktu is in CA

California (CA)

- Angels Camp
- Arcade
- Avocado
- Badwater
- Benbow
- Bummerville
- Burnt Ranch
- Challenge
- Cool
- Copperopolis - (Say that five times fast)
- Crater Butte
- Devils Den
- Doghouse Junction
- Dunmovin
- Forks of Salmon
- Fort Dick
- French Camp
- Fruitland (This is fitting for California!)
- Greenacres
- Happy Camp
- Hellhole Palms - (Nice weekend get away)
- Hercules
- Idlewind
- Last Chance
- Los Baños (Translated: The Baths, also The Bathroom)
- Los Gatos (Translated: The Cats)
- Mecca
- Mineral King
- Mormon Bar
- Nice
- Paradise
- Peanut
- Poopout Hill
- Rainbow
- Roads End
- Rough and Ready
- Shafter
- Skyforest
- Sleepy Hollow
- Squabbletown
- Surprise
- Teakettle Junction
- The City
- Timbuktoo - (Translated: Mother with a large navel)
- Toad Town
- Vacaville - (Vaca is 'cow' in Spanish)
- Walnut
- Weed - (Enjoy WEED California)
- Wimp
- Whisky Basin
- You Bet
- Yreka (Not to be confused with Eureka)
- Zzyzx

[malthaussen]

45. Not to mention Lost Angels...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

49. I was gonna post Rough And Ready. I had a neighbor from there.

I have a friend who grew up in Bad Axe Michigan (posted up thread)

[NV Whino]

51. And I bet Bad Axe was a typo

[annabanana]

50. Dunmovin ... I suspect that someone just got tired of movin' West!...lol..n/t

[NV Whino]

53. Yeah, I loved that one.

Fort Dick is real classy, too.

[me b zola]

180. Needles always stuck with me

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. Humptulips, WA.

Many (Most?) of the towns in Washington carry the names given by the first peoples.
Tokeland
Skamokawa
Nooksack
Chewela
Hoquiam (prounounced "Ho-quim&quot
Sequim (pronounced "Skwim&quot
Puyallup (prounounced "Pew-al-up&quot

[cali]

41. Love Humptulips

[dixiegrrrrl]

48. Tokeland is now pretty appropriate, isn't it?

I used to have hours of quiet amusement watching out of state news casters try to pronounce Sequim and Puyallup.

[Shrike47]

81. You can spot out-of-state people in Oregon by how they say Yachats.

"Yaw hots."

[KamaAina]

117. Or "Or-uh-gone", for that matter

[lumberjack_jeff]

90. More like meth-land but I understand your point. n/t

[TexasProgresive]

33. More but not the limit for Texas

Venus, TX
Earth, TX
Wink, TX
Dish, TX
Flower Mound, TX
Snook, TX

Not a town but a place- Devil’s Backbone

[kentauros]

167. Bug Tussle

[font size="3"]Bug Tussle[/font]
Bug Tussle is at the junction of Farm Road 1550 and State Highway 34, ten miles south of Honey Grove and five miles north of Ladonia in southeastern Fannin County. The community was initially called Truss, after John Truss, who settled there. It was founded in the 1890s and had a post office in 1893–94. Later the town's name was changed to Bug Tussle. At least three explanations exist for this unusual name. The most popular is that the name commemorated an invasion of bugs that spoiled a church ice cream social. A variation on this anecdote suggests that the relatively isolated spot, long popular as a site of Sunday school picnics, offered little else for picnickers to do after they ate than watch the bugs tussle. A third story tells of an argument between two old-time residents who wanted to change the name of the town. Their attention was diverted by the spectacle of two tumblebugs fighting. "Look at those bugs tussle," one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town. More than seventy Bug Tussle highway signs have been stolen over the years, and for a time it was fashionable for couples to come there to be married, just so that they could say they had been wed in Bug Tussle. Bug Tussle reported only six residents by 1962, but experienced a brief renaissance when the David Graham Hall foundation took a fifteen-year lease on the downtown area in order to restore it. From 1966 to the mid-1980s the renovated town, sometimes called West Bug Tussle, had a population of thirty and capitalized on its unusual name by producing a number of souvenir items under the "Made in Bug Tussle, Texas" logo. In 1990 its population was reported as fifteen.

[Octafish]

34. Climax.

[malthaussen]

47. There are at least 3 climaxes in various states,

plus a number of variations on the word. I guess we know what the old explorers had on their minds.

-- Mal

[Octafish]

108. I uh...I do not avoid geographers, Mandrake.

But I...I do deny them my essence.

[malthaussen]

130. There will never be another film that good in the history of the universe.

For one thing, I doubt any actor now could pull off playing three roles in the same flick.

-- Mal

[dorkzilla]

35. We have lots around us with Algonquin (Lenape) Indian words/names

Tuckahoe, Ossining (an approximation of Sint Sinck or SingSing), Chappaqua, Mamaroneck, Mohegan. There are lots of Dutch names like Sleepy Hollow (Slapr Havn or "secondary harbor”), Tarrytown (Tarew Dorp or wheat town. Washington Irving said the name came from unhappy wives who’s husbands “tarried” too long in the pub after bringing their wheat to the warf), Yonkers (jonkheer, an honorarium for entry-level nobility) and other interesting names.

We even have a Valhalla nearby, which was originally called Kensico but the was changed because the first postmaster’s wife was a big Wagner fan. Ironically most of the town is now permanent home to a lot of dead people as it houses Gate of Heaven cemetery, Kensico Cemetery and Sharon Gardens, and a good many famous ones including Babe Ruth, Billy Burke, WW Denslow, Rachmaninoff and many many others.

Here is a web address naming some notable interred therein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensico_Cemetery , in case your next trip to NY finds you with a couple of hours to spare among the headstones. I prefer hanging out with Washington Irving at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery!

Edited to add - NY has some really boring town names compared to other states! We do have Coxsackie - surely that must slightly funny. Its no Climax, I’ll grant you...

[Glassunion]

36. Well, here in PA...

Virginville, which is not too far from Intercourse, but it should be next to Blue Ball, as there is no Climax, or even closer still it should be to New Beaver, and far from Big Beaver, which should be near Porkey, but personally I have more of a Desire to Mount Bethel... But I go on too long. Time for me to run down to the Corner Store, as I'm working on a Bath Addition.

Fear not for we too have a Jersey Shore.

[malthaussen]

43. We posted about the same time

I used to live down the street from Beaver College, which changed its name when it got an Internet domain because, well, because. Lovely place, but the new name is boring.
And we forgot Bird-in-Hand. Fortunately, it was mentioned upthread.

-- Mal

[Glassunion]

44. Don't forget Dublin or Moscow.

[grntuscarora]

144. And Mexico.

[DebJ]

176. Can you squeeze this one in too? Peep.

[malthaussen]

37. Pennsylvania is well-known for interesting names.

Within a few miles of each other (in deeply religious Amish territory), we have Intercourse, Blue Ball, and Virginville. A bit farther down the railroad is Jerkwater. And then there is Mars, which is near Pittsburgh. And the Wyoming Valley is in PA, too, which might be a mite confusing... I also like Brandywine, but I'm a Tolkien fan.

Illinois has Florid, and Indiana Normal. I've always liked those names, too.

-- Mal

[femmocrat]

136. Western Pennsylvania has a lot of weird small towns. Some more that come to mind:

California
Loving
Tire Hill
Hunker
Ogletown
Peanut
Red Onion
Scalp Level
Paint
Yukon
Revloc and Colver (get it?)
North East (which in in the NW corner)
Moon


I'll probably think of a couple dozen more!

[panader0]

40. Show Low, Az

From wiki:
According to a legend, the city's unusual name[4][5] resulted from a marathon poker game between Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark.

The two men were equal partners in a 100,000-acre (400 km2) ranch; however, the partners determined that there was not enough room for both of them in their settlement, and agreed to settle the issue over a game of poker (with the winner taking the ranch and the loser leaving).

After the game seemed to have no winner in sight, Clark said, "If you can show low, you win." In response, Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, "Show low it is."[6]

As a tribute to the legend, Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance.[

Welcome back cali.

[Bluenorthwest]

42. Tillamook, Sisters, Dog Thief Point, Boring, Jetson, Drain, Swisshome, Dutch Oven Camp, Humbug

Mountain, Johnny Cake Mountain, Funny Bug Basin, Donner and Blitzen River.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

55. Dutch Oven Camp? Lol

Almost as bad as our summer home I want to name "Passing Wind Estates"

[Lizzie Poppet]

84. And we've also got Wankers Corner!

Along with North Powder (nothing special...until you consider there's no East, South, or West Powder...or just Powder), Ragic and and Ekoms (two post offices near each other...and the names spelled backwards are "cigar smoke&quot , Gouge Eye, Mount Fanny (a-hem...), Negro Ben Mountain (yes, the name used to be even worse...), and Three Fingered Jack.

I do love my weird-ass state!

[KamaAina]

116. The radio show "Satellite Sisters" rented a P.O. box in Sisters

It was five actual sisters living in various parts of the world chatting about sister stuff.

[Throd]

46. The Western Slope of the Sierras is a gold mine (pun intended) for wacky names.

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Alabama....2 places near me:

Scratch Ankle ( also know as Franklin sometimes, and mentioned in Harper Lee's new book)

Burnt Corn

and we have towns named Arab ( still trying to figure that one out)
and
Intercourse.

Plus the long list of Indian names: Creek and Cherokee

Ufaula, Opelika, Notasulga, Hightogy, Wedowee, Weogufka, Wetumpka,
Tuscumbia (Helen Keller's birthplace),
Tuscaloosa, ( Roll Tide!!!!) AND once the center of the biggest KKK infestation.
Letohatchee, Clayhatchee, Loachapoka ("Turtle Sitting Place&quot , Arbacoochee, Hatchechubbee, Chunnenuggee,
Pushmataha ("Messenger of Death&quot , Fakit Chipunta

[Whiskeytide]

122. DG, you forgot Slapout, AL ...

... apparently named for the owner of the general store years ago who never kept sufficient inventory on hand and would tell people he was "slap out" of whatever they wanted.

Smut Eye, AL - named for a nearby blacksmith's smoky operation that, apparently, irritated the eyes.

And Boar Tush, AL - originally Boar Tusk, and someone must have thought it was funny to mispronounce it -- and then it stuck.

And then there's "Opp, AL" - no idea, but they are famous for their rattlesnakes.

Arab, by the way is pronounced "AHAY-rab" - and they'll surely make you as a Yankee if you mispronounce it. Much like they will in nearby Reform, AL - if you don't call it "REE-form", that is.

[dixiegrrrrl]

149. I actually got lost and fund myself in Arab one time..,,famous for having huge outlet stores.

and if I remember correctly, it was at the foot of some switchback hills.
So I was really surprised a few years later to hear a tornado had hit it. Tornadoes normally need flat areas to ramp up in.

[Whiskeytide]

160. It's just a little North of the...

... Meridian MS to Tuscaloosa to B'ham to Gadsden tornado alley. Can get dicey.

You mentioned the klan in Tuscaloosa where I grew up. I went to Jr high with the son of the grand poopah at the time (or so it was rumored - things like that were never confirmed). Didn't know him well, and he ended up in private school after the 9th grade and I completely lost track of him. I understood he was not happy being known for his dad. I had really forgotten about that until your post.

[dixiegrrrrl]

178. Grand poopah was Robert Shelton, if I recall. n/t

[Whiskeytide]

179. That was him.

Can't believe I forgot that name - especially considering he Donald murder and the SPLC's civil suit. Should have looked it up before I posted.

I had also heard about the "headquarters" property later seized in the lawsuit and knew people who claimed to have seen it - but no one could really describe where it was. Weird trip down memory lane.

[Whiskeytide]

124. btw - looked up Arab's origin...

... lore has it that it was an attempt to name it after a man who lived there or perhaps founded it - named Arad Thompson. The sign maker messed up the sign- but they just put it up anyway.

[JEB]

54. Oregon places

Sisters
Brothers
Remote
Drain
Burns (after Robert Burns poet)
Wagontire

[Maedhros]

135. Also:

Halfway
Boring
Fossil
Zig Zag
Friend

[mcranor]

56. Burp Hollow (OR)

[phantom power]

57. AZ: Bumble Bee, Bloody Basin Road

[Hell Hath No Fury]

59. Copperopolis, CA.

Located in the gold country foothills of CA, it is a small ex-mining towns The name really fires my imagination. The guy who founded and named the own was really thinking big.

[Xithras]

88. For what it's worth...

Copperopolis was originally known as Copper Canyon because the town sits on a massive copper deposit. During the Civil War, the cost of copper skyrocketed, people flooded in, and the town became extremely wealthy. The town was renamed Copperopolis because they thought it was going to be a permanent major city (Copperopolis supplied something like 80% of the copper used by the Union during the Civil War). When the war ended and copper prices collapsed, so did Copperopolis.

Nowadays it's home to a bunch of tweakers, a Disneyfied "downtown" that was supposed to be the core of a major housing development that failed during the real estate implosion (the original downtown was too "run down" looking, so the developer built a new fake downtown), retirees hiding behind the walls of their gated communities, and a handful of small family ranchers and vineyards. One of those vineyards is owned by a close friend of mine.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

112. Yeah, the new downtown is --

pretty gross, I actually much prefer the old run down one. As much as I love the idea of living in a town called "Copperopolis", it's just a little too far afield for my taste. Cool about the friend with the vineyard! I wasn't too sure what the populace was like -- I'd always wondered who was living there these days.

[bvar22]

60. Needmore, Arkansas...

Embarrass, MN.

---some of the most beautiful, and fun to say names, are in are Wisconsin
Menomonie, WIsconsin

Eau CLaire, Wisconsin


Dry Prong, Louisiana

Waterproof, Louisiana


The really cool names in Louisiana are all south of I-10, in the Kajan Lands:

Opelousas

Delacroix Island (mentioned in a Bob Dylan song)

Grand Cheniere

Thibodeaux

You must hear the locals pronounce the names of their towns in South Louisiana before you can fully appreciate them.



HI, Cali.
You sound fresh and relaxed.
Good to see/hear/ read your posts again.

[Scuba]

183. Hey, don't forget ...

Oconomowoc

Viroqua

Winneconne

Coon Valley

Poy Sippi

Minocqua

Boaz

Baraboo

Spooner

Cadott

Mukwonago

Ashwaubenon

And while it's not actually a town ....

[flamingdem]

63. Lake Chaubunagungamaug

Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.84 km2). Since 1921, the lake has also been known by a much longer name having 45 letters: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg.

[grntuscarora]

142. Love it!

I hope my phonics holds up, but is it
Chaw-buh-na-gun-ga-mawg, accent on "gun"? What does it translate to, and is it a Wampanoag name?

I love the Native American place names.

[flamingdem]

151. I'll ask my mom, she used to say this all the time for laughs

and could do the long version!

The best part is the meaning "You stay on your side of the lake and I'll stay on mine" or something like that.

[KamaAina]

64. Isn't Medicine Hat in Alberta?

Eh?

[laundry_queen]

170. It sure is.

And Moose Jaw is in Saskatchewan. (Love saying both those names).

Another fun one to say:
Tuktoyaktuk

[KamaAina]

173. Moose Jaw was Al Capone's favorite getaway during Prohibition.

[laundry_queen]

175. Ah yes. The tunnels.

I've heard of the tunnels.

[LiberalLoner]

66. Montana....

Helena was originally known as "Last Chance Gulch"
Two Dot
Hungry Horse (with a totally true story behind it)
A foothill named "Scratch Gravel Hill" because the miners had only to scratch to find the gold.

[treestar]

67. Houston, pronounced "how-stun"

and Newark, pronounced "New Ark."

Rehoboth, which is in the Bible somewhere

Two counties called Kent and Sussex, and Dover, a city in Kent, as it is in England.

The Murderkill River.

Also Assawoman Bay.

[KamaAina]

71. Zzyzx, CA

A favorite of ex-DUer KitchenWitch. Somewhere near Barstow on the edge of the desert where the drugs begin to take hold.

[dixiegrrrrl]

77. I have passed that road!

Twice, as a matter of fact.

[MynameisBlarney]

73. In my home state of NC

There is a town called Big Lick.
Not especially my favorite, but darn funny.

[catbyte]

74. Hell, Paradise, Shiawassee, Ontonagon, Christmas, Whiskey Creek,

Tittabawassee, to name a few in Michigan.

[KamaAina]

76. And one from Hawai'i...

(it's pronounced "PAY-ay-PAY-ay" and should be spelled "Pe'epe'e" )

edit: I wonder if they serve pupus (appetizers) there?

[roamer65]

78. Exit 69, Big Beaver Rd

Actually an exit on I-75 in Michigan.

Always reminds of the stuffed beaver scene from "the Naked Gun".

[KamaAina]

79. Dry Prong, LA

fortunately, hundre3ds of miles from Intercourse (PA).

[geardaddy]

80. Koochichiching, Yellow Medicine, Pipestone, Tower, Blue Earth, Big Stone, Crow Wing

Lake of the Woods, Otter Tail

[missingthebigdog]

83. Here in Arkansas, we have Toad Suck

Between Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, there is Bucksnort.

There is a small community in Kentucky named eighty eight.

And there is a George, Washington.

[HereSince1628]

141. Setting aside names like Booger Holler, I sorta like the name Petit Jean

It's got a distinctly Arkansas sound to it.

[missingthebigdog]

145. Drove through Pickles Gap this morning.

[KittyWampus]

86. Lots of Native American/Agonquin names on Long Island:

Syosset
Massapequa
Poquot
Montauk
Amagansett
Setauket
Patchogue
Wyandanch
Ronkonkoma
Hauppauge
Commack
Cutchogue
Manhasset
Merrick
Mattituck
Mecox
Sagaponic
Yaphank
Corum


and…. CANARSIE (which means 'fenced in land')

AND…. places like Far Rockaway are bastardizations of Algonquin roots.

[IDemo]

92. Picabo, Idaho (PEEK-uh-boo)

It's an American Indian name that means "shining waters" and was made famous by the U.S. Olympic skier Picabo Street, who was named after the town.

[Zen Democrat]

94. It was Ralph Edwards, creator of Truth or Consequences who had a contest.

Hot Springs, NM won.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

95. Just over the state line is Zzyzx.

[UTUSN]

96. Hundreds (thousands?) of Spanish language place names. Shhh, don't tell TRUMP et al.

*********QUOTE********

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_place_names_of_Spanish_origin_in_the_United_States
[font size=5]List of place names of Spanish origin in the United States[/font]

States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah

Territories: North Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, American Virgin Islands

Counties: Alameda, Alamosa, Amador, Angelina, (and 100+ more)

Cities: (Hundreds)

*************UNQUOTE*************

[KamaAina]

98. Ninety Six, SC

[KamaAina]

100. Dave Van Ronk had a whole song called "Garden State Stomp"

http://www.metrolyrics.com/garden-state-stomp-lyrics-dave-van-ronk.html

Allamuchy, Hacklebarney, Rockaway, Piscataway
Ho-Ho-Kus, Secaucus, Lower Squankum, Fair Play
Wanamassa, Succasunna, Manumuskin, Plumbsock
BiValve, Buckshutem, Turkey Foot, Macanippock
Jugtown, Feebletown, Nummytown, Rahway...

Wickatunk, Manunka Chunk, Mantua, Mizpah
Manasquan, Raritan, Matawan, Totowa
Whippany, Parsippany, Penny Pot, Hackensack
Batsto, Nesco, Metedeconk, Peapack
Loch Arbour, Egg Harbor, Swinesburg, Caviar...

Cheesequake, Boy Scout Lake, Moonachie, Tenafly
Netcong, Watchung, Pluckemin, Mount Misery
Bardonia, Ironia, Colonia, Weehawken
Manahawkin, Mantoloking, Mahalala, Pennsauken
Dutchtown, Ironbound, Frelinghuysen, and Lodi...

Hardscrabble, Double Trouble, Picatinny, Montague
Muckshaw Pond, Oakanickon, Espanong, Ocean View
Navesink, Shabakunk, Ongs Hat, Jumbo
Wortendyke, Waterwitch Park, Blue Ball, Ringoes
Matchaponix, Delawanna, Wawayanda, Timbuctoo...

[Jim Lane]

103. Manunka Chunk, New Jersey

I've always assumed it was derived from a Native American name but a cursory search yields no etymological information.

[B Calm]

104. French Lick, Indiana or Climax, Michigan

[Scuba]

181. French Lick is not far from Santa Claus, Indiana.

[Johnyawl]

107. Whiskey Dick Mountain, Washington State...

...near Ellensburg.

[Liberal_in_LA]

110. Tarzana . Lots angeles area developed by Edgar rice buroughs

[Aerows]

115. LOL

Woolmarket. Guess what was the big trade item there?

[struggle4progress]

118. I consider Benet a brilliant and underrated writer

American Names is a lovely poem and the source of the title Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

I had stopped referencing it for a while due to the racist language in the fourth stanza, but then I learned that he had worked with Pauli Murray -- and that in her family memoir Proud Shoes she had written The title Proud Shoes is from a line written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1934 about Paul Engle's first book of poetry, American Song: "Here is anew voice-and the voice of a new generation ... its clear incisive speech cuts deep into native ground. Here is somebody walking in America in proud shoes" -- and I think I won't worry about that further now

I wonder how many other book titles are taken from Benet lines

... he began with the simple things that everybody's known and felt -- the freshness of a fine morning when you're young, and the taste of food when you're hungry, and the new day that's every day when you're a child. He took them up and he turned them in his hands. They were good.things for any man. But without freedom, they sickened. And when he talked of those enslaved, and the sorrows of slavery, his voice got like a big bell. He talked of the early days of America and the men who had made those days ... He admitted all the wrong that had ever been done. But he showed how, out of the wrong and the right, the suffering and the starvations, something new had come ... Then he turned to Jabez Stone and showed him as he was -- an ordinary man who'd had hard luck and wanted to change it. And, because he'd wanted to change it, now he was going to be punished for all eternity. And yet there was good in Jabez Stone ... He was hard and mean, in some ways, but he was a man. There was sadness in being a man, but it was a proud thing too. And he showed what the pride of it was till you couldn't help feeling it ... And he wasn't pleading for any one person any more, though his voice rang like an organ. He was telling the story and the failures and the endless journey of mankind. They got tricked and trapped and bamboozled, but it was a great journey ... The light was getting gray in the room when Dan'l Webster finished. And his words came back at the end to New Hampshire ground, and the one spot of land that each man loves and clings to. He painted a picture of that, and to each one of that jury he spoke of things long forgotten ... "The defense rests," said Dan'l Webster ... Walter Butler rose in his place ... "We find for the defendant ... Perhaps 'tis not strictly in accordance with the evidence," he said, "but even the damned may salute the eloquence of Mr. Webster" ...
The Devil and Daniel Webster
The Saturday Evening Post
October 24, 1936

[cali]

119. I wholeheartedly agree.

And yes, the language is undoubtedly racist. I hesitated to post this due to that.

I think Litany for Dictatorships is so powerful and timeless.


For all those beaten, for the broken heads,
The fosterless, the simple, the oppressed,
The ghosts in the burning city of our time…

For those taken in rapid cars to the house and beaten
By the skillful boys with the rubber fists,
-Held down and beaten, the table cutting the loins
Or kicked in the groin and left, with the muscles jerking
Like a headless hen's on the floor of the slaughter-house
While they brought the next man in with his white eyes staring.
For those who still said "Red Front" or "God save the Crown!"
And for those who were not courageous
But were beaten nevertheless.
For those who spit out the bloody stumps of their teeth
Quietly in the hall,
Sleep well on stone or iron, watch for the time
And kill the guard in the privy before they die,
Those with the deep-socketed eyes and the lamp burning.

For those who carry the scars, who walk lame - for those
Whose nameless graves are made in the prison-yard
And the earth smoothed back before the morning and the lime scattered.

For those slain at once.
For those living through the months and years
Enduring, watching, hoping, going each day
To the work or the queue for meat or the secret club,
Living meanwhile, begetting children, smuggling guns,
And found and killed at the end like rats in a drain.

For those escaping
Incredibly into exile and wandering there.
For those who live in the small rooms of foreign cities
And who yet think of the country, the long green grass,
The childhood voices, the language, the way wind smelt then,
The shape of rooms, the coffee drunk at the table,
The talk with friends, the loved city, the waiter's face,
The gravestones, with the name, where they will not lie
Nor in any of that earth.
Their children are strangers.

For those who planned and were leaders and were beaten
And for those, humble and stupid, who had no plan
But were denounced, but were angry, but told a joke,
But could not explain, but were sent away to the camp,
But had their bodies shipped back in the sealed coffins,
"Died of pneumonia." "Died trying to escape."

For those growers of wheat who were shot by their own wheat-stacks,
For those growers of bread who were sent to the ice-locked wastes.
And their flesh remembers the fields.

For those denounced by their smug, horrible children
For a peppermint-star and the praise of the Perfect State,
For all those strangled, gelded or merely starved
To make perfect states; for the priest hanged in his cassock,
The Jew with his chest crushed in and his eyes dying,
The revolutionist lynched by the private guards
To make perfect states, in the names of the perfect states.

For those betrayed by the neigbours they shook hands with
And for the traitors, sitting in the hard chair
With the loose sweat crawling their hair and their fingers restless
As they tell the street and the house and the man's name.
And for those sitting at the table in the house
With the lamp lit and the plates and the smell of food,
Talking so quietly; when they hear the cars
And the knock at the door, and they look at each other quickly
And the woman goes to the door with a stiff face,
Smoothing her dress.
"We are all good citizens here. We believe in the Perfect State."

And that was the last time Tony or Karl or Shorty came to the house
And the family was liquidated later.
It was the last time.
We heard the shots in the night
But nobody knew next day what the trouble was
And a man must go to his work.
So I didn't see him
For three days, then, and me near out of my mind
And all the patrols on the streets with their dirty guns
And when he came back, he looked drunk, and the blood was on him.

For the women who mourn their dead in the secret night,
For the children taught to keep quiet, the old children,
The children spat-on at school.
For the wrecked laboratory,
The gutted house, the dunged picture, the pissed-in well
The naked corpse of Knowledge flung in the square
And no man lifting a hand and no man speaking.

For the cold of the pistol-butt and the bullet's heat,
For the ropes that choke, the manacles that bind,
The huge voice, metal, that lies from a thousand tubes
And the stuttering machine-gun that answers all.

For the man crucified on the crossed machine guns
Without name, without ressurection, without stars,
His dark head heavy with death and his flesh long sour
With the smell of his many prisons - John Smith, John Doe,
John Nobody - oh, crack your mind for his name!
Faceless as water, naked as the dust,
Dishonored as the earth the gas-shells poison
And barbarous with portent.
This is he.
This is the man they ate at the green table
Putting their gloves on ere they touched the meat.
This is the fruit of war, the fruit of peace,
The ripeness of invention, the new lamb,
The answer to the wisdom of the wise.
And still he hangs, and still he will not die
And still, on the steel city of our years
The light falls and the terrible blood streams down.

We thought we were done with these things but we were wrong.
We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.
We thought the long train would run to the end of Time.
We thought the light would increase.
Now the long train stands derailed and the bandits loot it.
Now the boar and the asp have power in our time.
Now the night rolls back on the West and the night is solid.
Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon's teeth.

Our children know and suffer the armed men.

[missingthebigdog]

154. I have always loved The Mountan Whippoorwill

Up in the mountains, it's lonesome all the time,
(Sof' win' slewin' thu' the sweet-potato vine.)
Up in the mountains, it's lonesome for a child,
(Whippoorwills a-callin' when the sap runs wild.)
Up in the mountains, it's lonesome for a child,
(Whippoorwills a-callin' when the sap runs wild.)
Up in the mountains, mountains in the fog,
Everythin's as lazy as an old houn' dog.
Born in the mountains, never raised a pet,
Don't want nuthin' an' never got it yet.
Born in the mountains, lonesome-born,
Raised runnin' ragged thu' the cockleburrs and corn.
Never knew my pappy, mebbe never should.
Think he was a fiddle made of mountain laurel-wood.
Never had a mammy to teach me pretty-please.
Think she was a whippoorwill, a-skittin' thu' the trees.

The song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is inspired/loosely based on the poem. The poem is much more lyrical, though, lol.

[struggle4progress]

121. Twenty-Nine Palms CA. Accident MD. Tick Bite NC. Rising Star TX.

[Iris]

125. Carl and Social Circle - Georgia

[grntuscarora]

127. Nanty Glo in PA.

I've just always enjoyed saying the name. Nanty glo is Welsh and translates as "river of coal".

[jberryhill]

128. Assawoman Bay

[Texasgal]

159. ROFLMAO!!!

Oh god... the 12 year old boy is coming out in me right now!

[jberryhill]

163. Well send him home where he belongs, and shame on you

[Texasgal]

164. I know..I know...

Still...

Okay! I'm good!

[OilemFirchen]

129. Knockemstiff, Ohio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockemstiff,_Ohio

A number of stories exist to explain the community's unusual name. One claims that a tremendous brawl broke out when the community was in its infancy. More humorous is the tale of a woman who confronted her preacher during a Sunday morning worship service, informing the clergyman that her husband was cheating on her. She wanted the preacher's advice, and his response was straightforward: "Knock 'em stiff." A variant of the story is that a preacher came across two women fighting over a man, and advised the women that the man was not likely to be worth their trouble and that someone should "knock him stiff." Another explanation is that it was named from one of the many slang terms used for moonshine. Local residents say that moonshining was formerly common in the area surrounding the community, which had a reputation for rowdiness.

[ladyVet]

131. Some from my home state, North Carolina:

Chocowinity, Bat Cave, Old Trap, Toast, Spivey’s Corner, Cheeks, Bottom, Climax, Hookerton, Hornytown, Erect

Altamahaw (which is actually next to Ossipee, and known collectively as Altamahaw-Ossipee, or A-O), Democrat, Republican, Royal, Oriental, Marble, Wood, Gumberry, Windblow, Jugtown, Shacktown

Poortown, Lovejoy (formerly Queen), Paint Gap, Pink Hill, China Grove, Snow Camp, Silk Hope, Half Moon, Level Cross, Tin City, Texaco Beach, Old Dock, Swanquarter, Black Jack

My father's people (Quakers) settled in the area around Swepsonville/Eli Whitney/Snow Camp. We have lots of native names, like Saxapahaw. One old mill town was named after a Scottish site, Glencoe (it's been rebuilt as a historic site). Lots of Scotts and Germans settled here.

[Tipperary]

133. And remember Lizard Lick.

As well as Meat Camp and Deep Gap.

[KamaAina]

137. There is a Honolulu in NC!

The Doobie Brothers' China Grove is, of course, the one in Texas. "Down around San Anton'... though they're a part of the Lone Star State..."

[Fumesucker]

140. We lived in Bat Cave for a little while when I was a kid

Could literally fish in the river out of my back window...

[LiberalElite]

138. Angelica, Ballston Spa, Blooming Grove,

Massapequa, Minisink, Muttontown, Onondaga, Quogue, Schenectady, Sleepy Hollow

[LiberalElite]

139. Reminds me of this Johnny Cash song (with lyrics):

[Blue_In_AK]

143. Hey, Cali, good to see you back.

You were missed - by many, probably not by some. LOL.

[Blue_In_AK]

146. Alaska has some good names

Chicken - because allegedly no one knew how to spell Ptarmigan
Deadhorse
Coldfoot
Tok - pronounced "toke," my favorite

And then, of course, our Native villages that few white people can pronounce, e.g., Kwigillingok, etc. LOL

[marions ghost]

147. Birdsnest, VA and Tightsqueeze, VA

always good in these fun names of USA moments...

[hopemountain]

148. jump off joe creek

oregon

[Texasgal]

153. Texas has some really weird places

Here are some old west ones:

Cut n Shoot, Texas
Gun Barrell City, Texas
Hoop And Holler, Texas
Ding Dong, Texas
Muleshoe, Texas

There is also a BACON, TX. LOL!

[TexasBushwhacker]

158. Hey, there's a restaurant in Snook that serves

Chicken fried bacon. They bread it, fry it and serve it with cream gravy.

[KamaAina]

190. Has Kevin been to Bacon?

[Recursion]

155. Tom Waits has mentioned his love for American town names and how they help his songs

From my home state:

Natchez
Hushpuckena
Belzoni
Pass Christian ("pass kris-CHAN&quot
d'Iberville ("DAI-ber-vee&quot
Nanih Waiya
Guntown
Artesia
Saltillo
State Line
16th Section
Kossuth

[nc4bo]

156. The town of Barbecue located in Barbecue Township, North Carolina - right down the road a holler

Gotta love it and I do

[yuiyoshida]

161. Petaluma...

Rancho Cucamonga! Goleta! Twenty Nine Palms, Encino, Sacramento, Eurika, Merced, Modesto, Turlock, Bodega Bay, Calistoga, Anaheim, Tustin ..just to name a few... <3

[A Little Weird]

162. I'm sure every state has some great place names

I met an interesting guy, Robert Rennick, that went around and collected stories about place names (what an awesome job!). He passed away several years ago but he published some books about the history of some of Kentucky's place names.

Someone already mentioned Monkey's Eyebrow which is probably my favorite, but here are some more:
Bugtussle
Chicken Bristle
Dogwalk
Mouth of Bear
Possum Kingdom
Poodle Doo
Fearsville
Helechawa
Hell's Halfacre
Hell for Certain
Kingdom Come
Morehead
Nonesuch
Rugless
Shoulderblade
Sweet Home <--shouldn't this be in Alabama?
Yamacraw
Weed
Wild Kitchen

[pnwmom]

165. My sister once lived near a Milk Porridge Road. I was jealous,

because we just have numbered streets around here.

OTOH, it is a lot easier to find your way around numbered addresses.

[Oilwellian]

168. The Story of Evangeline's Empty Grave: A Louisiana Tale

Fifty years ago, when my husband was a kid, he went on a field trip to see Evangeline's Grave in St. Martinville, LA. Today it's called Evangeline's Empty Grave, a fitting example of the story's constantly changing history. LOL The story is so convoluted and involves local characters who were supposedly the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's enormously popular epic poem Evangeline. I always thought it was a fascinating story, steeped in South Louisiana's culture. Tourists find it just as alluring today, as it was fifty years ago.

The Story of Evangeline's Empty Grave: A Louisiana Tale

So happy to see you, Cali.

[Aristus]

172. Washington State is border-to-border with cool names. Native American, mostly.

Puyallup, where I live.

Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Skykomish, Suquamish, Duwamish, Toppenish, Quilayute, Tahoma (the real name of Mount Rainier and the predecessor to the name 'Tacoma'), Kitsap, and many more...

[bhikkhu]

174. Optimistic Oregon towns: Lakeview, where there is often no lake

(depending on how the winter went)

Klamath Falls, where there are no falls really (though the Link river is rough in a couple spots)

Paisley, a word that makes me think of flowers and hippies and happier days, but is really mostly a town of old ranchers and dust. But a nice place anyway, definitely worth a stop if your driving through the endless miles of sagebrush and desert..

Boring, OR got its name from a founder, Mr. Boring. They make the most of it, town slogan being "The most exciting place to live".

Christmas Valley always made me think of deep forest, lakes, log cabins and Nordic folk building snowmen. But, its mostly sand dunes and lava rock, and more desert.

[Act_of_Reparation]

182. The river flowing through my hometown is called Housatonic.

I've always liked the name, and its translation from Mohican: "Beyond the Mountain Place"

[cali]

185. I know it well.

[KamaAina]

186. Properly pronounced "ooze-a-tonic".

Yes, I lived in Stratford, where it empties into Long Island Sound, for a time.

[Act_of_Reparation]

187. I lived up north.

Forests, dams, covered bridges. All that jazz.

[KamaAina]

188. The capital of Minnesota was originally known as Pig's Eye.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul,_Minnesota#History

Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, a retired fur trader-turned-bootlegger who particularly irritated officials,[23] set up his tavern, the Pig's Eye, near present-day Lambert's Landing.[18] By the early 1840s, the community had become important as a trading center and a destination for settlers heading west. Locals called the area Pig's Eye (French: L'Œil du Cochon) or Pig's Eye Landing after Parrant's popular tavern.

[muriel_volestrangler]

189. The villages of Nasty, Ugley and Shellow Bowells

are within about 10 miles of each other, just north of London.