[Ads-l] "Funniest" U.S. town names

[John Baker]

Joe Creason, a 20th century columnist for the Courier-Journal, made much of the supposed exoticism of Kentucky place names. Monkey’s Eyebrow (included in the list), which has competing unlikely origin stories, is perhaps the most noted example. The list is missing the variously spelled Hell-for-Certain, Kentucky, named after an apparently fast-flowing creek. 

Humor can also arise from juxtaposition. Some places in Pennsylvania like to describe themselves as being “between Bird in Hand and Paradise.”  My own small town was located between Weed and Bliss, Kentucky. These are both extinct post offices, each of which was named for its first postmaster. 


John Baker


> On May 12, 2025, at 12:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> They also missed  Muleshoe, Tex., and Blue Ball, Pa. (which in tandem with
> Intercourse helped land Ralph Ginzburg in prison) and Frog Level, Ky. And
> La. And Va. (Other Frog Levels are not quite towns.)
> 
> JL
> 
>> On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 10:39 AM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hmm.  I don’t find either Intercourse, PA or Climax, MI on the list. Those
>> cracked us up when we were undergrads.
>> 
>> LH
>> 
>>> On May 12, 2025, at 9:58 AM, George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The learned compiler of this lists"Truth or Consequences" N. M. as simply
>>> "Consequences".  And he/she/they miss "Cut and Shoot" Texas.
>>> 
>>> Folks in Maine think Meddybemps is funny, too.  When I lived there
>>> (Portland, not Meddybemps) 60 years ago, there was a local singing group
>>> called the Meddybempsters.
>>> 
>>> GAT
>>> 
>>> On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 8:20 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.yahoo.com_lifestyle_75-2Dfunniest-2Dtown-2Dnames-2Dthroughout-2D161000924.html&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=4BiJvhHyKF2awT5Mf52cljr_rBpP8Lkx1fjx6HUIbss6TSDLFOErGxjPn3ANfggz&s=yhK45Go0fgUodvzghSt5eX6r04TMgFoecd0QP-K1bB8&e=
>>>> <
>>>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.yahoo.com_lifestyle_75-2Dfunniest-2Dtown-2Dnames-2Dthroughout-2D161000924.html-2D&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=4BiJvhHyKF2awT5Mf52cljr_rBpP8Lkx1fjx6HUIbss6TSDLFOErGxjPn3ANfggz&s=214uhfH2O6ClrnSoccPrYIj70mc3yYCBsmiB4ByIf80&e=
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> JL
>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society -
>>>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=4BiJvhHyKF2awT5Mf52cljr_rBpP8Lkx1fjx6HUIbss6TSDLFOErGxjPn3ANfggz&s=iBMeo1ZgHlqoYoSrU0b3fImjAjrnViqAt2ZFDwXdYR4&e=
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> George A. Thompson
>>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>>> Univ. Pr., 1998.
>>> 
>>> But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
>>> your lowly tomb. . .
>>> L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112
>>> 
>>> The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
>>> picture of his great-grandfather.)
>>> 
>>> 
>> https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/HOP_WOA_3851
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org