Far Away Places With Strange Sounding Names

...and possibly stranger inhabitants...


James W. Phillips, an old friend and colleague, and brilliant marketing guy in Seattle, had an uncommon interest in names of towns and cities and wrote a book titled Washington State Place Names, way back in 1976.

Naturally when I moved to Arizona about 20 years ago, I became interested in Arizona State Place Names. There are plenty. My favorites are:

Ahwatukee
Ajo 
Bagdad
Boneyard
Booze Crossing
Bumble Bee
Chloride
Coffeepot
Goobertown
Gripe
Gurli Put Vo
Hassayampa
Humbug
Kahachi Miliuk
Kaihon Kug
Kokopnyama
Nothing
Peach Pu
Pivahn-hon-kya-pi
Santa Claus
Skull Valley
Surprise
Tombstone
Two Guns
Why

The Arizona names further kindled my research spirits, and I was doing fine … considering a whole series of Weird City names, until I got to (please send the children out of the room) … Mianus. Really! I’m serious. I looked up Mianus and found it … in Connecticut near Greenwich. 

Search hotels in Mianus. Find places to visit In and around Mianus.
 
After I recovered from my sophomoric hysteria, I looked further into Mianus and found a blogger named Stephen Wood who was also looking into Mianus and wrote a Blog titled: “I Had to Have a Wiener in Mianus.” 

No, Anthony isn’t living there, although that might be a very good place for him to run for Mayor. Apparently there is a great hot dog place in Mianus. Stephen also posted these photos. Thank you Stephen. 

Being an easterner, I’m not sure if Stephen knows about Whorehouse Meadow in southeast Oregon reported by Lewis McArthur in his 1974 book Oregon Geographic Names, or Brassiere Hills, Alaska; Mollys Nipple, Utah or Outhouse Draw, Nevada sent along by Mark Monmonier.

Me, I still like Boring, Oregon. They even have a Boring Community Center.  And probably a Boring Theater.  They almost certainly teach Boring History in the schools - I'll bet I can get testimonials from the students.

I’ll be sending along more names in following FLOGS. Please stay tuned and don’t hesitate to send place names.