When I lived in England, I pretty much took weirdness for granted when it came to place names. There were some wondrous, tongue twisting and befuddling names out there. Slough. Great Snoring. Little Snoring. Towns named after obscure saints. Houghton St. Giles?
In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.
Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.
These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.
As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.
“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”
This is one of those things you think of when you're having a bad day. As bad as it gets, at least you don't live in Titty Ho.
Unless you do. Guess I can't help you there.
Let us not forget we have our own such place names here in Virginia: Bumpass and Nutbush come to mind.
Posted by: Laura | January 25, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Laura beat me to it. I used to do social work in Bumpass.
And New England has a few of those, plus some of the Quaker names in PA. Like Intercourse for the latter and Purgatory for the former.
Then there are all those droll Texas names like Dead Gulch.
Posted by: Dymphna | February 11, 2009 at 08:23 PM