Friday, November 26, 2010

Where Do They Come Up With These?


I decided it was time to bring a little levity back to my blog and a recent conversation with a Twitter friend gave me the idea for this post. Most of you probably know of some funny or weird names of towns or places in your state. I've known of a few here in Kentucky, but decided to do a little research and see just how many strange town names we have. For your amusement, I have compiled a list of names in the Bluegrass State - some silly and some slightly embarrassing. And, yes, these are real places. 
Kentucky Place Names

Asphalt
Bagdad
Bandana
Barefoot
Bear Wallow
Beaver Lick
Bee Lick
Big Bone Lick
Big Beaver Lick
Black Bottom
Black Gnat
Black Snake
Bugtussle
Busy
Chevrolet
Cuba
Cut Shin 
Deer Lick
Dimple
Dwarf
Dykes
Fairplay
Fearsville
Future City
Gays Creek  
Grannie
Hippo
Knob Lick
Krypton
Marrowbone
Monkey's Eyebrow
Mummie
Mud Lick
Number One
Oddville
Ordinary
Parrot
PeeWee
Penile
Pig
Possum Trot
Public
Quicksand
Rabbit Hash
Raccoon
Shoulderblade
Sunfish
Swamp Branch
Sweeden
Thousandsticks
Turkey
Tyewhoppety
Viper
Vortex
Wax
Wolf Lick


You may have noticed "Lick" is a common theme. Don't ask me, I just live here. Personally, I wouldn't want to lick any of those.

Google this for your state and see what strange names you have. I would be interested to know if anybody can top this list. I don't know if that would be a good thing or not.

                 

13 comments:

Dawn said...

Monkey's Eyebrow?
I would be a BIT embarrassed to tell someone where I lived with some of these;)

TexWisGirl said...

I agree with Dawn. Monkey's Eyebrow wins for most bizarre, but my fave was Tyewhoppety. You must have some interesting folks there to go along with those town names... As we all do, I'm sure! :)

TexWisGirl said...

Okay, I had to go find some from Texas for you. Seems we also have Fair Play, Sweden, Dimple, Bug Tussle (I knew that one sounded familiar) and Bagdad. In addition, we have Egypt, Baby Head, Chicken Feather, Alligator School House (?!), Looneyville, Mutt and Jeff, Little Hope, Notrees (in West Texas), Big Stinking Creek (fed by sulphur springs), Ding Dong (located in Bell County), Diddy Wa Diddy (again ?!), and Granny's Neck. One of my favorites is Toad Suck (named after a bar where you could drink so much you'd swell up like a toad), and I live near and often visit Gun Barrel City and also Tool, Texas...

TexWisGirl said...

P.S. I did not see one single "lick" so you're on your own there...

mynature said...

Lotta licking going on in Kentucky!!!

Ryan said...

Man you guys gotta have some stong tounges. =)

The Average Joe Fisherman
http://averagejoefisherman.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I will play along with you tonight, Brian. I am from Idaho and I think you folks in Kentucky have us beat. However, I will add a half dozen oddities from Idaho:
Beer Bottle Crossing
Good Grief
Last Chance
Squirrel
Reverse
and, my favorite
Slickpoo, Idaho

Wolfy said...

Brian - weirdest thing -after I emailed you, and you emailed back, I tried 3x to send back a response, and I get the MAILER - DAEMON evvery time. Maybe my email is getting caught in your spam filter? (Although it obviously got through onece!)

Joe

Anonymous said...

Now that's just funny...

"Ya y'all, next time you're down in Big Beaver Lick, give me a jingle and we'll catch up..."

lol! I couldn't live there, I'd have to wear depends from laughing so much!

Fun post MRH!

A Reel Lady said...

Now some of ours are funny, and some are just plain hard to pronounce.

Antlers
Beaver
Big Cabin
Bluejacket
Bokchito
Bowlegs
Coweta
Deer Creek
Etowah
Fanshawe
Hooker
Hoot Owl
Indiahoma
Indianola
Kaw City
Ninnekah
Nowata
Okmulgee
Oktaha
Olustee
Pink
Sallisaw
Skiatook
Slaughterville
Slick
Tahlequah
Tishomingo
Wakita
Wapanucka
Waukomis
Waurika
Waynoka
Wewoka


Yes the storm chasers, and weathermen have a hay day when storms come through and they have to pronounce some of the last ones. You might have heard a few of these in Twister too. :)

Ward said...

I crack up every time I pass the sign to Big Bone Lick there on I75. I have to admit though. Brian, that how you folks pronounce the names amuse me almost as much as the names. Take Versailles KY for instance. What's up with that? lol The first time I went to Lexington and pronounced it properly everyone looked like I had grown a second head. They didn't know what I was talking about. lol

spotted face said...

I haven't looked up Iowa's yet, but I love your Possum Trot! That is way cool! Time to google -

Brian King said...

Dawn/texwisgirl: No clue where they got Monkey's Eyebrow - especially in Kentucky. I like Tyewhoppety, too, and I'm pretty sure it's actually a word in this state!

texwisgirl: Baby Head? I like Toad Suck and Big Stinking Creek! LOL

mynature/Ryan/kmurrayhunts: There has to be a reason behind all the tongue names, but I'm not sure I really want to know.

Mel: LOL! Slickpoo is good and obvious, I suppose! I like Last Chance, too. Wonder if that comes from the frontier days?

Wolfy: Sorry again about that mix up, but we're good now.

A Reel Lady: Oh, my word...I think I could pronounce about half of those! Aside from Hooker, I'm not even sure what some of them are.

Ward: Yep. Don't ever make the mistake of pronouncing Versailles properly - it has been corrupted Kentucky style! I had an uncle who came to visit a few years back and he was asking direction to Versailles (properly pronounced). I had to warn him about that so the folks here wouldn't give him the same look you got.

Casey: Can't go wrong with some Possum Trot, brother! haha