Thursday, June 9, 2011

Places with Funny Names

A couple of days ago Jason and I were driving along Highway 31 on our way to eat dinner. We'd had a long day in the hay field and were starving hungry, so off to the Chinese buffet we went.

It is ridiculously easy to entertain us at times. As Jason and I were driving along in the car we would comment about the various names that we found amusing. I should also add that we drive by all of these signs regularly. After laughing about them and telling each other the same jokes every time we drive by these signs we still find ourselves to be funny.

First up was Hollywood. Every single time we drive by the sign for the unincorporated town of Hollywood, TN Jason always comments "we made it to Hollywood." My response to Jason the other day was that I didn't have the appropriate sunglasses for Hollywood and I needed to upgrade to a giant pair like you would see Paris Hilton wearing.



Hollywood, TN unincorporated


I could rock these sunglasses

A couple of miles up the road we reached my favorite sign, the one for Big Bigbyville, TN. This unincorporated town derives its name from the Big Bigby Creek nearby. For those who care there is also a Little Bigby Creek but to my knowledge there is no Little Bigbyville.


The Big Bigbyville sign cracks me up every single time I see it. I always try to say Big Bigbyville three times in a row really fast. Jason does as well, so we ride along in the car giggling and chanting Big Bigbyville over and over. Try it:


Big Bigbyville
Big Bigbyville
Big Bigbyville


Next up was the sign for the Jonah the Whale Daycare Center. I don't know why but this name just kills us and Jason and I always approach the bend in the road where Jonah & the Whale is located with great anticipation. "We're coming up on Jonah & the Whale! Look, there's Jonah the Whale!"


There is another name that always gives me the giggles although there is nothing funny about it. A couple of hours away on the Cumberland Plateau there is the Calfkiller River (yes Calfkiller is all one word). The first time I saw the sign I did a doubletake. I said to Jason "did that sign say Calfkiller River?" Then we both burst into hysterical laughter and started making a thousand jokes about the Calfkiller River.


I didn't take this picture but found it on a Google search. Apparently I'm not the only one who finds this name entertaining.


I know that Jason and I are not the only people who like to laugh at funny place names. So share the ones you laugh at in the comments and give all of us some good laughs over the weekend.


___________________________________


Rocky

Stormy and Kennedy

Rampal and Tiny


Wiz, Dutch and Murphy



Ivan and Apollo




Lucky, Regis, Spike, O'Reilly, Lightening, Slinky and Thor


Noble, Thor and Lightening


Thomas and Trigger


Thor and Noble hanging out

15 comments:

Non-Stop Mom said...

Oh my.....In southcentral PA (you know, the heart of Amish Country) you will find the town of Intercourse. I am dead serious. Nearby, you'll also find Paradise and Bird-in-Hand. Gap is also fairly close by.

There is a Long Island, KS - which amuses me for some reason. Probably because I moved from *the* Long Island to Kansas.

Give me time - I'll come up with more.

Seindria said...

Just as you leave Seymour, TN, on Chapman Highway heading south to Sevierville, there's a road called "Tittsworth Springs."

I drive past it going to work everyday. My fiance always gets a kick out of it.

And in... I think it was somewhere around Erie, PA, there's "Amigone Funeral Home."

My fiance is from north of Philadelphia, PA, and when we drive toward Philadelphia, TN, I always go "Damn, I took a wrong turn. That was a fast 12 hours!"

Funder said...

I know you're a Tennessee girl, but surely you've been over to Arkansas and seen the exit for Toad Suck State Park in Conway? (It's right down the road from Searcy, pronounced just like my Cersei!) And of course to get to AR, you'd go past Bucksnort TN. Bucksnort and Toad Suck crack me up every single time.

I think Nevada has more weird place names than normal ones. Did you know Ely is pronounced Eel-ey? For reals.

Laura said...

Funny... We have a Paris and London in Ontario...always good for a little joke, but my favourite is Fishkill (and Catskill -which doesn't sound as bad) - in upstate NY. Lots of other good ones that are harder to pronounce in NY - Poughkepsie, Schnectady...etc.

There is also the Tappan Zee bridge into NYC...we listen to an NYC area radio station and they always talk about traffic on the Tappan Zee bridge and it cracks us up - it sounds German, so we often end up doing really bad German accents or something...

Dressager said...

There's a Slaughter Lane in Austin, Texas. And a Hairy Man Road here in Round Rock, which is actually very scary to drive on at night because it's long, in thick woods, no streetlights, zero traffic, and winds like a sea serpent doing backflips. I try to avoid at all costs. But the name is funny (there's a whole story behind it.) Oh, and don't forget Lake Titicaca in South America ;)

Funder said...

Dressager - do you channel your inner Beavis and Butthead when you say Lake Titicaca? Cause I totally do!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Funder, I've had many a laugh over Toad Suck State Park. We also drive past Bucksnort every time we go to Memphis and always have a laugh about that one as well. Once time when I was in college I stopped at the BP gas station in Bucksnort and bought a koozie that said Bucksnort on it. I thought it was great!!

Nancy C said...

The two I remember the most are:

Cut and Shoot, Texas

Shakerag, Tennessee.

Jason said...

Having travelled all across this state and those surrounding us for my job, I ran into a bunch of keepers. The best of them:

1. Difficult
2. Defeated
3. Nameless
4. Bug Tussle
5. Soddy Daisy
6. Stinking Creek Community
7. Red Boiling Springs

amy324 said...

One of the Wisconsin state parks is named "Bong Recreation Area." The sign gets stolen all the time.

I agree with Laura, a lot of the towns in NY are hard to pronounce, because they come from Native American names. When you grow up hearing Canandaigua and Skaneateles all the time, they don't sound funny, until the first time you try to spell them. They are not pronounced phonetically.

Vivian, Apollo's Mom said...

I spent a lot of time near Fishkill, Catskill, Poughkeepsie (where I went to Vassar for 2 years) and the Tappan Zee. They don't sound funny at all to me. But what do you want? I'm from Armonk!

Jill said...

In the UK there is a town called Penistone. Pronounced `Pennistun`.

Funder - that pronunciation of Ely sounds English too. There is at least one town called that in Cambridgeshire.

I`m in Canada right now and whilst not amusing, the town of Asbestos makes me wonder how it got its name.

Bif said...

In Ky near Daniel Boone National Forest, the road we accessed for the project we worked was named "Hell for Certain"... and it was one hell of a road!

Jason said...

BIF, your entry takes today's cake ! Hahahaha !! Thanks for the laugh !

KY Chris said...

We live near the border of TN/KY. When we were first visiting my father-in-law out here I was admiring all the beautiful farmland. As part of his touring us around, he took us to nearby by Paris, TN (complete with a minature Eifel tower!) Of course being a wise-a$$ I had to say "how do you keep them down on the farm, after they've seen Paree?" and proceeded to roll around in the back seat of the car laughing like a hyena. My husband and his father looked at me like "What? We don't get it..." hahahahaha - their loss!