The things you find while looking for other things! This newspaper article, quoted in full, is from 1932. (Forgive any typos.)

Queer Names Borne by American Towns: Homely Nouns and Adjectives Found on Map.

What's in a name?

First families have left their famous surnames to designate post offices and railroad stations in the United States, says bulletin from the National Geographic society, "and in addition many humble folk have contributed their more familiar appellations such as Dad, Bill, Nick, Tim, Floe, Vick and Maggie. Aside from family names the homely nouns and adjectives of the workaday world have found their way by the score to maps and signposts.

Greasy Creek,Tub, Biscuit, C'heap, Busy and Dimple are Kentucky towns. There is Horse Heaven, Humptulips, Gooseprairie and Steptoe in Washington State.

Pie town, Dusty, Gallop and High Rolls are in New Mexico; Jelly, Needles and Likely in California; and Sopchoppy, Perky and Frostproof in Florida.

Illinois has Sandwich, Joy and Muddy, while across the state line in Indiana there is Speedy, Economy and Harmony. Trump, Vim, Flues and Joes are in Colorado; Bumble Bee, Sunglow, Wikieup and Cactus in Arizona; Asbestos, Ladiesburg, Fearer and Appeal in Maryland; and Deadwater, Grindstone, Thorofare and Merepoint in Maine.

Ballclub and Shivers.
In Minnesota there is Ballclub, Happyland and Ottertail, Money Creek, Knife River and Embarrass; and in Mississippi, Arm, Lemon, Whynot, Chunky, Shivers and Soso.

Montana's Bay Horse, Big Arm, Giltedge and Pray are equally as odd as North Carolina's Nags Head, Beaverwallow, Pee Dee, Shoe Toast, Topnot and Worry; and Missouri's Rat, Gang, Damsite, Clever and Enough.

There is Accord, Teaticket and Feeding Hills in Massachusetts; Anvil Location, Inkster, Ahmeek and Honor in Michigan; Echo, Happy Jack and Waterproof in Louisiana; Leaky in North Dakota; and Novelty, Overpeck, Long Bottom and Charm in Ohio.

Oklahoma's contribution to odd is Antlers, Hominy, Slick, Slim and Scraper; while Oregon has Wagontire, Sixes, Tyee, Izee and Fossil. New York State gives Horseheads, Sag Harbor, Silvernails, Yaphank and Whiteface; and New Jersey, Colt's Neck, Peapack, Tranqullity, Changewater and Chews.

Goodnight, Razor, Fort Spunky, Happy and Gunsight are towns in Texas; while Pennsylvania has Shickshinny, Showers, Moosic and Bird In Hand. Cowpens, Silverstreet, Nine Times and Ninety Six are in South Carolina; Faith, Tea and Twilight in South Dakota; Devil's Slide in Utah; and Idol, Inskip, Littlecrab and Shop Spring in Tennessee.

Modest Town and Cutlips
Ferry passengers calling 'hey' to 'Si,' a ferryman, are said to have named Haysi, Virginia. Other odd names in the Old Dominion are Modest Town, Cap, Crabbottom, Dindy, Smooky Ordinary, Traffic, Fancy Gap, Duty and Success; while its neighbor, West Virginia, has Joker, Cutlip, Smoke Hole, Dingy, Hazy, Odd, Pink and Quick. In Wisconsin there is Luck, New Diggings and Rib Lake; In Wyoming a Doggie Badwater, Four Horse and Ten Sleep.

What Cheer, Promise City, Coin, Nodaway, Stout and Wick are Iowa towns; Cad, Deepstep, Dewyrose and Ty Ty are in Georgia; Cocolalia, Cuprum, Inkom and Notum in Idaho; Coats, Perk and Potwin in Kansas; and Doughboy, Flats, Hire, Rescue and Wynot in Nebraska.

Half a dozen of Arkansas' place names in a row sketch for the imaginative a thumb-nail story: Lost Corner, Reform, Health, Prosperity, Romance and Love.

How about the city of George, Washington ... ?

and don't forget "Truth or Consequences, NM"!!

I vaguely recall, as a teenager, when the host (Monty Hall, I think) challenged America to come with a town that would change its name.

And, by golly, one did!\

And so, we have "Truth or Consequences, NM"

Bob

quote:

This newspaper article is from 1932.

I wonder how many of these names are still on the map, 75 years later.

Unfortunately, my favorite, Crabbottom, Virginia, was officially changed to Blue Grass in 1950.

I mean, can you imagine telling people you're from Crabbottom, Virginia?

It seems that Damsite, Missouri still exists, and Gunsight, Texas is hanging on. You can still go to Worry, North Carolina or to Teaticket, Massachusetts.

I've always been partial to Intercourse, PA and Skidoo, CA. When I was younger, I searched for Berlin, CA, but it had been renamed to Genevra, CA and was just a railroad siding.

quote:

can you imagine telling people you're from Crabbottom, Virginia?

A village near me is named Pratts Bottom, Kent. I know three different people who are proud to hail from there.

I'm shocked that Hell, Michigan didn't make the list. It was around back then, and still is.

This is really Peculiar, so to speak.

Wankers Corners is still on the Oregon map, although the saloon there has changed its name.

We've also got Drain, Riddle, and Boring.

I always liked the name Tickfaw, Louisiana!

Wordmatic

Well, there's Fertile and Climax in Minnesota. There were 893 (396 males, females) people in Fertile in 2000, but only 114 (243 males, 129 females) in Climax. Is that significant?

Further north is Come By Chance in Newfoundland and Labrador with only 265 people (2001). Presumably people get tired of wet dreams, as evidenced by Conception Bay South (2006 pop.: 21,966). Of course, some may prefer Dildo, a town popularized in a song by The Arrogant Worms . I think a certain Wordcrafter may have lost something there. If you go to Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, you will find Jerry's Nose on the Southern Shore.

Tinman

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

Jerry's Nose? That's my new favorite!

Now, if I were to start my own town, I think I'd name it "Arrogant Worms."

"Wink, a blink of a town in West Texas," is the hometown of the gent featured in the article I cited here. ("Six-foot-six himself, he shared a small bedroom with his three younger brothers, each of whom measures nearly 7 feet tall.") Wink is a metropolis of population 919 (as of 2000).

Edit: Good old Wink prompted me to look up other Texas burgs. My favorite was Cut and Shoot, Texas (population 903 as of 1990).

Texas also offers Impact, Mustang, Round Top, Novice, Jolly, Sanctuary, Bee Cave, Pecan Gap, Carbon, Nazareth, Retreat, Ponder, Smiley, Noonday, Snook, Ropesville, Mount Enterprise, Turkey, Thrall, Happy, Point, Runaway, Wells (which is bigger than Big Wells), Rule, Rising Star and Venus.

There were several hundred burgs, so I only checked those under 1,000 people. Those just now named have populations of 25 and 35 (the two smallest in the state), 81, 183, 201, 234, 241, 245, 255, 293, 334, 432, 463, 466, 489, 494, 501, 550, 588, 645, 700, 761 (756), 783, 859, and 977.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: shufitz,

Still extant is Blue Ball, PA. According to Wiki,

"The town's name often gets attention due to it being very similar to blue balls, a sexual condition in males. This joins nearby towns Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, and Virginville in the list of sexually-suggestive sounding town names in the Pennsylvania Dutch area of Pennsylvania."

p.s. we often travel by the sign for Scotrun, NJ, and remember the first time we passed it after my dyslexic son had learned to read-- 'can you believe that town is called Scrotum?' he hollered.

The town of Moorpark, California, is "Kraproom" in the rear view mirror.

We had a cottage on one of the Finger Lakes,in upstate New York. The nearby town had been named "Sodom" by some righteous preacher because he thought the people sinful. Its main feature was a tall flour mill at the edge of a creek. One day the town drunk climbed to the top of the mill, cracked a bottle of whiskey over it and re-named the town "New Hope."

Dear MissAnn,
Couldn't find Sodom in my old stomping-grounds, but was surprised to find this about my home town, Ithaca:

"The early community was a lively place and was called Sodom and Sin City for some time. But this changed in 1817 when Ithaca became the seat of a new county named for Daniel Tompkins..(etc)"

They didn't teach us THAT in 7th-gr civics!

MapQuest shows two towns named Sodom, New York: one in Putnam County where Brewster Hill Road Sodom Road and Sodom Lane South intersect; and one in Warren County at the intersection of Peaceful Valley Road and Back to Sodom Road, not too far from A. Hitchcock Road. You can also find the Putnam County Sodom on Google Earth (earth.google.com).

" A (Conservative) People's History of New York City " (Daily Intelligencer 3/9/07) says New York City is also known as "Gotham, Sodom, Gomorrah, The Big Apple, Satan's Condom." (Satan wears a condom?) It goes on to say that the Patriot Census of 2005 established that there are only 312 legitimate Americans living in New York City, and that "modern New Yorkers specialize mainly in sodomy, drug-taking, and stealing each other's property (the lower classes via mugging, the upper classes by taxing one another)."

It says that the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 were God's punishment for New Yorker's sins, and that there were plenty of warning prior to 9/11, including "the Great Flood in the book of Genesis, the Great Fire of 1835 A.D., the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 A.D., the 1977 A.D. blackout, the Son of Sam killings, and the career of Patrick Ewing."

Not to worry, though. Things are looking up for New York: "In 2004, for instance, despite the interference of several hundred drug-addled protesters, the city hosted the Republican National Convention that helped vault George W. Bush to his triumphant second term."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

The most worrying thing of all is there there are people, many of them doubtless in positions of power and influence, who actually believe this rubbish.

Yes, you're right, Richard. I hope everyone recognizes that the article," A (Conservative) People's History of New York City," is a satire and is not to be taken literally.

quote:

is a satire and is not to be taken literally

I didn't think Americans did satire!

I guess you just don't understand American humor.

quote:

I didn't think Americans did satire!

That's irony. Canadians are also ironically-challenged, if Alanis Morrisette is typical.