User:SP-KP/ToDo/salvage2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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:
- Names suggesting matters sexual or scatological or insulting, usually unintentionally. For example Intercourse, Shitlington Crags, or Silly, Belgium.
- Some sex-related names are marked 1 below
- Names of unorthodox spelling or sound. For example Å or Woolloomooloo.
- Candidates for the shortest or longest word in English or other languages are marked 2.
- Names that are also listed on inherently funny word are marked 3.
- Names that describe something that is in no apparent sense as to a geographical location. For example, Why, Old Harry, Mutters, Pity Me, and Die.
- Names that match or resemble the name of another much better known place, giving opportunity for confusion (for example New York, Lincolnshire, England, or Boston (also, coincidentally, in Lincolnshire)) can be found in the List of misleading place names.
- Names that are insulting or may hurt some groups of people, such as the town of Siem Reap, Cambodia (literally "the defeat of Siam") , or the small settlement of La-Mort-aux-Juifs (literally "the death of the Jews"), in the municipality (commune) of Courtemaux, France.
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.