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Funny-named towns

Started by golden eagle, June 10, 2010, 12:22:36 AM

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jwolfer

Quote from: webfil on February 25, 2013, 01:53:59 PM
I just found out that Saint-Léonard borough in Montréal used to bear the name Municipalité de la Paroisse de Saint-Léonard-de-Port-Maurice from the 1850s until 1962, when I-don't-know-who found out that Cité de Saint-Léonard (City of Saint-Léonard) was sufficient.

This 55 character length is comparable to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch...

sort of like Los Angeles full name...El Pueblo de Nuestra Dama de los Angeles de Porincula ( or something like that)

ENGLISH   The town of our lady of the angels of Porincula


allniter89

Quote from: english si on August 15, 2013, 04:44:37 AM
Quote from: NE2 on August 14, 2013, 11:14:15 PMMaybe England took over Austria after WWIII.
I read this as WWII.

And we did (well Britain did), along with the Commies, Frogs and the USA, dividing both Vienna and the country in the same way as we did Germany. We quickly released it back to the people (48?).
Frogs?? Please explain.
BUY AMERICAN MADE.
SPEED SAFELY.

english si

C'est le terme affectueux les rosbifs ont pour ceux qui vivent au sud de la Manche.

You might call them "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys".

hobsini2

Allnighter, I know that the French are referred to by Brits as Frogs. My dad, who is English born, calls them that. According to him it is because they were frog eaters long before the rest of the world discovered how good frog legs are.
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

J N Winkler

Los Angeles' name in full:  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula.

Porziuncola (Porciúncula in Spanish and Portuguese) is the name of a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is close to Assisi and is in fact almost adjacent to the railway station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porziuncola

Edit:  I got the name wrong, actually:  it is even longer:  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

J N Winkler

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 15, 2013, 01:33:38 PMI always find it interesting to recall that Austria was officially neutral during the cold war.  growing up, I don't recall any special difficulty in going there from Hungary.  this was similar to going to Czechoslovakia, and very much contrasted with going to West Germany.

I think Austrian neutrality was a condition of the peace treaty--I also suspect it is part of the reason Austria entered the EU rather late, in 1995, in the same tranche as Finland and Sweden, both highly developed NATO non-members who pursued a strictly neutralist foreign policy.  (I don't know if any or all of the three were officially members of the non-aligned club.)
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

oscar

Pillager, MN (which I passed through today, driving across the state on MN 210).  Rather Viking, huh?

A different kind of odd:  Aiea, HI (suburb of Honolulu).  Four letters, no consonants.  And it's a control city on Interstate H-201 -- could it be the only consonant-free control city in the U.S.?
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

hotdogPi

Every roadgeek's enemy:

Clearview, Oklahoma
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

Brandon

Quote from: J N Winkler on August 15, 2013, 02:46:27 PM
Los Angeles' name in full:  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula.

Porziuncola (Porciúncula in Spanish and Portuguese) is the name of a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is close to Assisi and is in fact almost adjacent to the railway station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porziuncola

Edit:  I got the name wrong, actually:  it is even longer:  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula.

Makes "Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit" seem short by comparison.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

agentsteel53

Quote from: Brandon on August 30, 2013, 11:03:11 AMPontchartrain

what is the etymology of this?  there's a lake in Louisiana called the same thing... the French must really have liked the name.  all I can make out is that "Pont" means bridge and "Chartrain" means ... well, that's where my knowledge of French stops.
live from sunny San Diego.

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jake@aaroads.com

Brandon

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 30, 2013, 11:19:37 AM
Quote from: Brandon on August 30, 2013, 11:03:11 AMPontchartrain

what is the etymology of this?  there's a lake in Louisiana called the same thing... the French must really have liked the name.  all I can make out is that "Pont" means bridge and "Chartrain" means ... well, that's where my knowledge of French stops.

Actually, both are named for Louis Phélypeaux, comte de PontchartrainAntoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac named Detroit after him (and subsequently, the auto marquee Cadillac and Cadillac, Michigan were both named for Antoine Laumet), and the lake was named by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.  D'Iberville, Mississippi is named for him.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

agentsteel53

thanks for the info.  names always trip me up when I try to work through etymology! 

(also, I always thought Cadillac was a native American name, similar to Pontiac.)
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Brandon

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 30, 2013, 12:44:37 PM
thanks for the info.  names always trip me up when I try to work through etymology! 

(also, I always thought Cadillac was a native American name, similar to Pontiac.)

Another one people don't always realize is Calumet.  Calumet is of French origin, but most folks usually assume it is of Amerind origin due to the application of the term to Amerind peace pipes.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

agentsteel53

Quote from: Brandon on August 30, 2013, 12:52:34 PM
Another one people don't always realize is Calumet.  Calumet is of French origin, but most folks usually assume it is of Amerind origin due to the application of the term to Amerind peace pipes.

I'd never heard of the pipe... I always thought Calumet was French, as so many "-et" names are.

as for "Amerind"; I think you're the first person I've ever note use that term.  I tend to use "native American", figuring "Indian" to work well for people from the country in South Asia, but kinda silly-sounding otherwise.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

yakra

"Officer, I'm always careful to drive the speed limit no matter where I am and that's what I was doin'." Said "No, you weren't," she said, "Yes, I was." He said, "Madam, I just clocked you at 22 MPH," and she said "That's the speed limit," he said "No ma'am, that's the route numbah!"  - Gary Crocker

english si


CNGL-Leudimin

Reading, also in England. Although I believe is pronounced "RED-in", not "REED-in". Another one is in PA.

For an abundance of gerunds see Germany and Austria. Most notable are the German towns of Kissing (Western Bavaria) and Petting (Southeastern Bavaria), and of course the Austrian village of Fucking, just across the border from Petting.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

J N Winkler

Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on September 01, 2013, 05:52:25 PM
Reading, also in England. Although I believe is pronounced "RED-in", not "REED-in".

This is correct--the pronunciation is close to that of "Redding," and in fact that is an older spelling of the name of the English city.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

english si

Quote from: J N Winkler on September 01, 2013, 08:01:14 PMthe English city.
Town...

Not that it won't win the next competition for city status.

cpzilliacus

#194
Quote from: J N Winkler on August 15, 2013, 02:54:04 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 15, 2013, 01:33:38 PMI always find it interesting to recall that Austria was officially neutral during the cold war.  growing up, I don't recall any special difficulty in going there from Hungary.  this was similar to going to Czechoslovakia, and very much contrasted with going to West Germany.

I think Austrian neutrality was a condition of the peace treaty--I also suspect it is part of the reason Austria entered the EU rather late, in 1995, in the same tranche as Finland and Sweden, both highly developed NATO non-members who pursued a strictly neutralist foreign policy.  (I don't know if any or all of the three were officially members of the non-aligned club.)

Sweden has long been officially neutral (and proclaimed that policy during the Cold War).  But after the Soviet Union went out of business, declassified Swedish documents revealed that the Swedish Ministry of Defense had a long and close history of cooperation with NATO generally and the United States in particular. 

Two examples:


  • Sweden  has long been proud of its "defensive" Air Force (with no bombers), but it was revealed that runways at its military airfields were built to exactly the correct length for use by USAF B-52 and B-1 aircraft.

  • The Swedish signals intelligence gathering agency, the National Defence Radio Establishment  (or as it is more commonly known in Sweden, by its initials FRA, which stands for Försvarets radioanstalt) worked very closely with the National Security Agency. Much of the equipment used by FRA employees during the Cold War (and maybe still) was airlifted to Swedish landing areas by U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft for deployment all around Sweden by FRA, presumably targeting Soviet Russian and Soviet empire satellite state communications (especially Poland and East Germany).  When NSA came out with new and improved equipment, the FRA would get it, and return the older stuff back to the United States.  You can read more about how FRA compares to the NSA in a recent blog posting here.
Finland, which fought two wars against Stalin's Soviet Empire, was forced to cede territory after the second conflict ended, and had accept neutrality on Russian terms, including a so-called Friendship and Assistance Pact in 1948, which was to last until the end of the Cold War ended (and shortly after that, the Soviet Union).

Both Sweden and Finland are now EU members, and even  though there have been some that feel that both nations should join NATO, that has not happened, at least not yet.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

hm insulators

Quote from: oscar on August 16, 2013, 11:25:44 PM
Pillager, MN (which I passed through today, driving across the state on MN 210).  Rather Viking, huh?

A different kind of odd:  Aiea, HI (suburb of Honolulu).  Four letters, no consonants.  And it's a control city on Interstate H-201 -- could it be the only consonant-free control city in the U.S.?

Also on the island of Oahu (same island Honolulu is on) is a little town called Kaaawa. (That's not a typo; there really are three A's in a row. It's pronounced kah-ah-AH-vah.)
Remember: If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

I'd rather be a child of the road than a son of a ditch.


At what age do you tell a highway that it's been adopted?

agentsteel53

Quote from: hm insulators on September 10, 2013, 05:35:59 PM

Also on the island of Oahu (same island Honolulu is on) is a little town called Kaaawa. (That's not a typo; there really are three A's in a row. It's pronounced kah-ah-AH-vah.)

it is a bit easier to parse if you put in the apostrophes: Ka'a'awa.  the apostrophe represents a glottal stop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOkina

(yes, ScottN, I am aware that it's not literally an apostrophe, doesn't look like one, etc... but it's close enough within the confines of a standard US keyboard)
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

yakra

"Officer, I'm always careful to drive the speed limit no matter where I am and that's what I was doin'." Said "No, you weren't," she said, "Yes, I was." He said, "Madam, I just clocked you at 22 MPH," and she said "That's the speed limit," he said "No ma'am, that's the route numbah!"  - Gary Crocker

oscar

Quote from: hm insulators on September 10, 2013, 05:35:59 PM
Quote from: oscar on August 16, 2013, 11:25:44 PM
Pillager, MN (which I passed through today, driving across the state on MN 210).  Rather Viking, huh?

A different kind of odd:  Aiea, HI (suburb of Honolulu).  Four letters, no consonants.  And it's a control city on Interstate H-201 -- could it be the only consonant-free control city in the U.S.?

Also on the island of Oahu (same island Honolulu is on) is a little town called Kaaawa. (That's not a typo; there really are three A's in a row. It's pronounced kah-ah-AH-vah.)

And the Big Island has Kea'au (junction of HI 11 and HI 130).  But three or four vowels in a row isn't that exceptional in Hawaii.  No consonants at all, OTOH, is unusual. 
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

Alps

Quote from: hm insulators on September 10, 2013, 05:35:59 PM
Quote from: oscar on August 16, 2013, 11:25:44 PM
Pillager, MN (which I passed through today, driving across the state on MN 210).  Rather Viking, huh?

A different kind of odd:  Aiea, HI (suburb of Honolulu).  Four letters, no consonants.  And it's a control city on Interstate H-201 -- could it be the only consonant-free control city in the U.S.?

Also on the island of Oahu (same island Honolulu is on) is a little town called Kaaawa. (That's not a typo; there really are three A's in a row. It's pronounced kah-ah-AH-vah.)



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