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

Tue May 13 01:48:32 UTC 2025

If it were "Fish Zoo," you'd probably notice only the name. not the
sequence.

JL

On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> I also love “Fishs Eddy”, a town on Route 17 in the Catskills. (When you
> google it the actual references to the town are overwhelmed by an eponymous
> upscale retail establishment in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan,
> but the town is still there in its original location.) l assume not too
> many other English language place names include an -shs- sequence. (No
> apostrophe.)  I try to pronounce “Fishs" as a monosyllable, but I can’t
> quite manage to do so.
>
> LH
>
> > On May 12, 2025, at 3:39 PM, John Baker <
> 0000192d2eeb9639-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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