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User:SP-KP/ToDo/salvage2

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The following international geographical names are either interesting or unusual. This list is provided chiefly for its entertainment value.

Exactly what is "interesting or unusual" is of course open to debate, but most of the names fall into recognisable categories:

Many place names that appear odd to English-speakers are from other languages. Often they are either meaningless or innocuous in their own tongue. The arguably best-known examples of this are the town of Condom, France, and the village of Fucking, Austria.

Because of problems associated with an unusual place name, some towns and cities have chosen to rename themselves.

0–9

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A

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The village of Å in Norway

B

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Road sign for Boring, Oregon

C

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Cumming Street and Seaman Avenue in Manhattan New York City

D

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Sign pointing to Dildo, Newfoundland and Labrador

E

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F

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The village of Fucking, Austria.

G

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H

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Old cargo handling office, Hell railway station, Norway

I

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J

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K

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L

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Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

M

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N

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O

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P

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Q

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R

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S

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Shag Point, New Zealand

T

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U

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V

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Road sign with Wedding inscribed on it (Berlin, Germany)

W

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Studio507 02:12, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

X

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Y

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Z

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Sign to Zzyzx Road, on Interstate 15, California

See also

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Further reading

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  • Far from Dull: and other places ISBN 095422177X
  • Rude Britain - with selected photographs and explanations of rude-sounding places and street names

Start here

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Interest in place names which are sometimes considered amusing or unusual exists in a number of countries.

There are many reasons why place names have been considered amusing or unusual.

Short or long place names

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Some place names are sometimes considered unusual because they are extremely short, or extremely long.

"Rude names"

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Some place names are sometimes considered amusing because they appear to be rude to some people.

In some such places, for example Shitterton in Dorset, residents have been reported as being proud of the name in question. [1] The village of Fucking in Austria, meaning "(place of) Focko’s people."[2] has a traffic sign with its name on it, beside which tourists often stop to have their photograph taken. It is a commonly stolen street sign.[3] Significant public funds have been spent on replacing the stolen signs.[4] In 2004, mainly due to the stolen signs, a vote was held on changing the village's name, but the residents voted against doing so.[2] In August 2005, the road signs were replaced with theft-resistant signs welded to steel and secured in concrete to prevent further chances of the sign being stolen.[4]

Literature about place names sometimes considered amusing or unusual

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A number of books have been published on the subject of place names sometimes considered amusing or unusual (e.g. Bailey & Hurst 2005)

References

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  1. ^ Shitterton: The village that dare not speak its name The Independent 21 May 2008
  2. ^ a b Brits steal carloads of Fucking Austrian roadsigns
  3. ^ Urban Legends Reference Pages: Welcome to Austria
  4. ^ a b What’s the F---ing joke?

Bibliography

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Rob Bailey and Ed Hurst (2005) Rude Britain ISBN 0752225812

Category:Geography Category:Linguistics


 

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