funny place names in your country/language!
In England in past times there would normally be a street in each town where prostitutes would ply their trade. Those streets were normally called Gropecunt Lane, and in a number of cases that has lived on in the likes of Grope Lane, etc.
Anyway, I think the classical standard for long place names is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, in Wales.
In the Philippine province of Pampanga where my dad is from there is a town called "Sasmuan". Now that's not so unusual, however, prior to 1991, the town's name was spelled "Sexmoan".
Fishkill, NY -- On at least two widely-separated occasions, environmentalists complained about this name, and asked the town to change it. (Of course, "kill" really means stream, in this case -- there are many others around here, like Sawkill, Landsmans Kill, etc.)
I've just seen a sign to a place called Birdlip in Wiltshire today.
Here's a great site that lists tons of silly names throughout the English-speaking world (and other places, too):
http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/hall/8701/townname.htm?200627
Some of my favorites from the US:
Monkey's Eyebrow, Arizona
French Lick, Indiana
What Cheer, Iowa
Pippa Passes, Kentucky
Waterproof, Louisiana
Boring, Maryland
Hot Coffee, Mississippi
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
Humptulips, Washington
Cut and Shoot, Texas
Left Hand, West Virginia
Michigan also has a Hell, as well as a Gay and a Climax. Not to be outdone, Pennsylvania has an Intercourse and a Blue Ball.
I'm pretty sure there was a town in Texas called Friendship which had a serial killer a few years back.
Up until recently, on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, there was a town called "Gay Head". I'm not kidding. The early English settlers on the island used to have a name for the high bluffs, or sand dunes on the island, called a "head". The colonists thought that this particular section of the island was so awe inspiring that they named it "Gay Head". The name was recently changed back to its original, Native American name, "Aquinnah". Thank goodness. Another funny place name is Blandford, Massachusetts. Also, Belchertown, Mass.
Boring, Maryland ???
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico ??????
Quel manque d'imagination !
;)
Truth or Consequences, or T or C, as it's usually known around here, was originally named Warm Springs (it has geothermal pools). But a game show in the 1950's of the same name offered to broadcast from any town that would agree to change its name to the show's name, and provide a little free publicity in the process, and the rest is history!
There's also a Dead Horse in Alaska and a King of Prussia in Pennsylvania.
--Boring, Maryland--
I bet this is the twin town of Luschendorf (engl. bore village) :-)
There is a community in Oregon called "Boring". Oregon also has a community called "Drain". I know that in Italy, there is a suburb of Milan called "Malpensa", translated into English, it means "bad thought". Italy also has a town or place name called "Golasecca". Translated into English, it means "dry throat".
In Croatia, there is town called BABIN KUK [old woman's hip]
A small village in Jordan- Middle East- called "kherbet al soog" english translation means “the Ruins of the market”. A bad man added just one dot under one of the letters in one of the signs leading to the village and turned the name into “kheryet al soog” which means “the shit of the market”…
But anyhow, this is not the reason why we the people in the Middle East are in a big shit, the real reason is this:
http://pictures.humpingfrog.com/13635/2006/01/no-wonder-the-middle-east-is-in-deep-shit.html
In my native North Carolina mountains, we have towns named Lizard Lick and Possum Trot, as well as Loafer's Glory (you can almost imagine your own story about how that one got its name!). In South Carolina, there's Fair Play and Traveler's Rest and Walhalla (Norse name for heaven).