TWO EGG is the quirky name of a small town in Florida. Its
official website says there are more stories on how it changed its
name from Allison than it has people. And HAMM is a city in North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Since we first wrote about amusing or peculiar names of towns a
decade ago, readers around the world have told us of dozens of their favorite
weird place names, .
Here are some of their e-mails:
Have you heard of the town of HOTAZEL in the Northern Cape Province
of South Africa? It gets quite warm there!
- RG, (Johannesburg, South Africa).
In addition to HELL, Michigan has a town named PARADISE. (It's in
the Upper Peninsula, on the shore of Lake Superior.) When we bought
a cottage there, one of the previous owner's wall decorations was a
road map of Michigan with the route from Hell to Paradise
highlighted and "325 Miles from Hell to Paradise" scrawled across
the top! Oh, and while Pennsylvania has INTERCOURSE, Michigan has a
CLIMAX.
- Barbara Bushey.
There is a CLIMAX, Michigan that may be worth a visit... or maybe
CHRISTMAS, Michigan as well.
- Nathan Miller.
Here in Arizona we have WHY without a question mark, and a place
between Wickenburg and Wikieup called NOTHING. It really is a
nothing. New Mexico boasts TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES, named after a
long since gone radio program.
- Stanley Dickes.
Here's some more for you: DIMBOX, GODLY, CUT AND SHOOT (all in
Texas), and one of my favorites: TOAD SUCK, Arkansas.
- Don Cooper.
Just read about the various town names, and thought I'd send a
greeting from my town of ROUGH AND READY, California.
- Rosie Mariani.
[Reminds us of Ben Ryan's 1926 song, Heart of My Heart:
When we were kids
On the corner of the street,
We were Rough and Ready guys,
But oh, how we could harmonize!]
My father knew the man who named ZZYZYX (I am sure it is pronounced
"zai-zix"). As I recall, he was a bit of a promoter, who wanted to
create a town there, and sell land. He selected the name in order
to create interest. I guess he succeeded!
- Radha, St John, U S Virgin Islands.
Hello from the UK. It is quite common to live in HOPE around here -
there's one in Montgomeryshire, Wales and the other just over the
border in Shropshire, England. There is also a village in
Shropshire called GREAT NESS. I always thought I was destined for
greatness but never could afford a house there.
- Chris Bartram.
You missed mentioning PARADISE, Pennsylvania, which is not far from
INTERCOURSE,Pennsylvania: and both are also close to BIRD-IN-HAND,
Pennsylvania.
- Lisa A. Hallett.
You don't have to go to California to find PARADISE. Near
LANCASTER, Pennsylvania you can find both PARADISE and INTERCOURSE.
On a highway there is a sign there pointing in two different
directions, one to PARADISE and the other to INTERCOURSE. Most
people opt to take the road to INTERCOURSE, out of curiosity. I am
not sure if they go straight to PARADISE after INTERCOURSE or
return disappointed and then opt to go to PARADISE. The three
cities, BiRD IN HAND, INTERCOURSE, and PARADISE are all within 5
miles of each other.
- Sethuraman Subramanian.
Another place to visit, other than HELL, is DILDO, Newfoundland
- Dave Ritchie, Canada.
I have been to Intercourse, PA. If you love fun place names, you
should check out a map of Newfoundland. My mother-in-law is from
there, and we have visited. Some are just picturesque, like Harbour
Grace, Bay Bulls, Tickle Cove, Tickle Beach, Tickle Harbour,
Leading Tickles (a jolly bunch those Newfies must be), Cupids,
Mosquito, Goblin, Garnish, Harbour Buffet (to go with the Garnish,
perhaps?), Goobies, Come by Chance, Renews, Dildo, Dildo South,
Bacon, Old Shop, Gin Cove, Doting Cove, Noggin, Tilting, Little
Seldom (emphatic redundancy, perhaps), Joe Batt's Arm, Too Good
Arm, Virgin Arm, Whale's Gulch, Lushes Bight, Black Duck, Jerrys
Nose, Witless Bay, and Blow Me Down.
Some tell stories of great hardship, which is remarkable
considering the penchant of most New World pioneers to give their
godforsaken new home a name with some gloss and hopeful (if not
outright deceptive) - but what do we make of Hungry Hill, Burnt
Islands, Little Burnt Bay, Isle aux Morts, Camp Boggy, Bareneed,
Farewell, Gallows Cove, and such? But some must have found
contentment and prosperity there. There are Heart's Content,
Heart's Delight, and Heart's Desire, all just across Trinity Bay
from Little Heart's Ease. - Randal Allred.
There is also a town in Norway, just north of Trondheim, called
Hell. They get no shortage of English speaking visitors in this
little town who go there just so they can say they have gone to
Hell and back.
- Kerilyn Cole.
Paradise, Pennsylvania and Hell, Michigan seem to call for
Purgatory, Maine. It is actually quite a disappointing place. Its
corner grocery store didn't even have post cards celebrating the
name!
- James and Helen Miller.
We found two websites with huge lists of even weirder U.S. place
names.
First, we discovered a story written by Sherry Stripling in the
Seattle Times, which mentions Scratch Ankle, Alabama; Good Grief,
Idaho; Panic, Pennsylvania; Stinking Point, Virginia; Yum Yum,
Tennessee (reminds us of Australia's Woy Woy and Wagga Wagga);
Dynamite, Washington, and Tranquility, California, Nothing, Arizona
and Zero, Montana.
Sherry was reviewing New York photographer Gary Gladstone's book,
Passing Gas: And Other Towns Along the American Highway (Ten Speed
Press, $19.95), so named because people who drive through Gas,
Kansas, are told not to blink or they'll pass Gas.
Eager to learn more about Gary's book, we found a detailed
description of it, plus a gallery of superb photos, on his
website
"I drove 38,000 miles visiting tiny places with funny names," says
Gary. "I made a portrait in a different town every day and posted
daily journals on the Photo News Network website. It is now a
book."
His photos have appeared in
Life, Look and the
Saturday Evening
Post. Making nine trips in five years, he shot 21,000 frames of
film, and visited (among many other odd places) Ding Dong,
Surprise, Goofy Ridge and Monkey's Eyebrow.
If you visit his website, be sure to look at his remarkable slide
show. There are great pictures of Gas, Purgatory, Tightwad, Rough
and Ready, Sweetlips, Good Grief, Bitter End, Suck Egg Hollow and
Lovely.
LINK.
Two Egg, Florida:
http://www.twoeggfla.com/
