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The World's Strangest Placenames
Jul. 5th, 2006 03:23 pmRussell again.
I’m spending my days labelling maps with place names. It’s led me to thinking about the strangest placenames I’ve seen. Now one has to be careful to remain culturally sensitive – what sounds funny to one culture is perfectly acceptable to another. But these didn't half make me larf. See if you can add to the list.
• Upper Ramsbottom, UK. Possibly apocryphal, there is a Ramsbottom in Lancashire. 'Where do you live?' 'Upper Ramsbottom.'
• Nonoti – near Cheviot, South Island, New Zealand. Upon being asked to name the new railway siding, the Mayor replied: ‘No, not I.’
• Tutaekuri River, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Loosely (!) translated, it means ‘Dog s**t’.
• B’limit, a mountain in Arthurs Pass National Park, New Zealand. So named because the climber who first summited it exclaimed that it was the ‘bl**dy limit.’
• Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA. Made famous in some movie or other.
And kind of on the subject, New Zealand has some silly road signs. I’ve seen:
• Cemetery Road No Exit, in Queenstown
• Rest Area, pointing towards a cemetery in Winton, Southland
• The classic road sign showing the way to the nearby towns of Clinton and Gore, pointing in opposite directions. The White House investigated in the late 1990s.
Can you come up with sillier?
I’m spending my days labelling maps with place names. It’s led me to thinking about the strangest placenames I’ve seen. Now one has to be careful to remain culturally sensitive – what sounds funny to one culture is perfectly acceptable to another. But these didn't half make me larf. See if you can add to the list.
• Upper Ramsbottom, UK. Possibly apocryphal, there is a Ramsbottom in Lancashire. 'Where do you live?' 'Upper Ramsbottom.'
• Nonoti – near Cheviot, South Island, New Zealand. Upon being asked to name the new railway siding, the Mayor replied: ‘No, not I.’
• Tutaekuri River, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Loosely (!) translated, it means ‘Dog s**t’.
• B’limit, a mountain in Arthurs Pass National Park, New Zealand. So named because the climber who first summited it exclaimed that it was the ‘bl**dy limit.’
• Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA. Made famous in some movie or other.
And kind of on the subject, New Zealand has some silly road signs. I’ve seen:
• Cemetery Road No Exit, in Queenstown
• Rest Area, pointing towards a cemetery in Winton, Southland
• The classic road sign showing the way to the nearby towns of Clinton and Gore, pointing in opposite directions. The White House investigated in the late 1990s.
Can you come up with sillier?