Funny suburb names

[gremcint]

There is a Cummer st in Toronto, it intersects with Yonge St.

[Chromatix]

Devon is just on the edge of the area where the old Cornish language might have been spoken. Cornish, like Breton, Welsh and both forms of Gaelic, is from the Celtic language family.

Scots Gaelic is particularly fond of pronunciations which seem bizarre. There is Milngavie which is "mill-guy", for starters.

[fireheart]

Doesn't tell me much about how cool it is, as most of that is about its history. It DOES tell me that it has a Tempe High School, which amuses me, as Tempe, AZ, has a Tempe High School as well....which is the main rival of MY high school, McClintock High.

As far as I know, it's home to the largest IKEA in the southern hemisphere. That's about it. As I find out more, I'll send it through to ya.

Devon is just on the edge of the area where the old Cornish language might have been spoken. Cornish, like Breton, Welsh and both forms of Gaelic, is from the Celtic language family.

It's also the name of a really nice form of sausage, commonly called "fritz" in SA. It's typically served raw. Who here (in Aussieland) doesn't remember going to their local butcher and getting a piece of Devon from them as a kid? (I used to get it from the local butcher and AGAIN from the supermarket . Usually the latter involved a piece of "smiley fritz" where there was something done to it to give the appearance of a smiling face in the sausage)

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

We have a Bagdhad in Tasmania.

As for funny names...

There's a series of hills on the east coast road. First one, steep going up, is Bust Me Gall Hill. The second one is Black Charlie's Opening (Charlie was an Indigenous tracker who showed the early white settlers the way through. I'm surprised this name is still current.). The third one is Break Me Neck Hill - steep going down. These names all originate in the early days of bullock teams for transport.

Doo Town on the Tasman Peninsular - not really too odd a name but all the holiday houses (shacks) are named Doo-something. Doo Wa Diddy, Doo It Again. Things like that.

We have the Dog Line. That, literally is what it was back in the convict days. A line of tethered attack dogs on the narrowest part of the peninsular north of Port Arthur at Eaglehawk Neck.

Little country towns all over with odd names and odd stories.

Back when I lived in Queensland, my fave funny place name was Wonglepong (Gold Coast Hinterland).

And there are old standby classics such as Wagga Wagga, Wee Waw, etc.

[fireheart]

Doo Town on the Tasman Peninsular - not really too odd a name but all the holiday houses (shacks) are named Doo-something. Doo Wa Diddy, Doo It Again. Things like that.
.

Question: if you get the "Doo wa Diddy" shack, if you sing the song in full, do you get a discount?

(and now I have it in my head)

[wolfie]

The same way us Brits can pronounce 'Mainwaring' as 'Mannering', 'Churmondley' as 'Chumley' and when we're feeling particularly mischievous then 'Featheringstonehaugh' as 'Fanshaw'

And when you're in Hampshire, don't forget to wear your pampshire. Yep, another off-the-wall pronunciation of a town name.

[That Guy]

Up in northern Oz we have the charming suburb names of Fannie Bay (one of the more upmarket areas) and Humpty Doo (many complaints when the suburb was divided and partly renamed Herbert)

Humpty Doo previously also had several amusing street names such as 'EEEE' and 'Not Street' until the local council got tired of the street signs constantly going missing.

[fireheart]

There is a suburb in Adelaide called Dulwich.

There is another suburb in NSW called Dulwich Hill.

I'm pretty sure there are more than hills between the two of them!

[smileyeagle1021]

Reno has some interesting ones...
I live in the Virginia Foothills neighborhood (that one actually makes sense if you are familiar with the area, it is at the bottom of the mountain that Virginia City is at the top of, named after its founder Old Virgini), the next neighborhood over is Steamboat, there have never been any steamboats in the area, there is a neighborhood called Hidden Valley (well, not very well hidden now), Silver Springs has never had any silver in it, the Cold Springs doesn't have any springs cold or otherwise, South Meadows has no meadows, and not a funny name, but Meadowood is a funny neighborhood and easy to get lost in (seriously, you can give directions to Meadowood Circle and Meadowood Circle, which also intercepts Meadowood Court, andMeadowoood Way, but doesn't hold a candle to Neil which has Neil Road, Neil Circle, Neil Court, Neil Way, Neil Place, and Neil Avenue). Oh, and town names, there is of course Moundhouse, Gerlach, and rural Nevada, nowhere close to Reno has even stranger ones, like Beowawe, Shurz, Beaty, and my personal favorite Deeth.

[cindybubbles]

When you google "Toronto", you get my city, the largest city in Canada and Ontario's capital; home to the CN Tower, the ROM, the Toronto Stock Exchange, and our controversial Mayor Rob Ford.

However, there are (gasp!) other cities/towns named Toronto, and I'm sure that they get mistaken for my hometown!

Example:

Boy: Where do you come from?
Girl: Toronto.
Boy: Wow, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, home of the CN Tower?
Girl: No, not that Toronto! Toronto, Ohio!
Boy: Silly, there's no Toronto in Ohio!

And so forth.....

[wolfie]

Boy: Silly, there's no Toronto in Ohio!

Unlike Ontario, in Ohio it's not a simple matter of "take this major highway to the interchange with this other major highway, and switch to the second major highway (401 to 416, both are built to the equivalent of Interstate standards)" to get from Toronto to Ottawa. I used to make a lot of deliveries in Ottawa, Ohio.

[Chromatix]

Vantaa has a suburb named Veromies - which literally means "taxman".

[fireheart]

Another weird one I've noticed lately through some trips for work:

-Punchbowl.
-Bankstown, which is neither on the banks (it's set fairly far inland) but it could be called a town.
-Erskineville (which makes me think of abbattoirs)

[Blue Ginger]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cockfosters in northern London.

It is on the Piccadilly line which starts/ends at Heathrow airport. You can always spot the newbies to London, especially from Oz and NZ, because they laugh when the train announces that it will be terminating in Cockfosters.

I used to catch this train every day for 2 years and it always made me smile.

[wolfie]

You can always spot the newbies to London, especially from Oz and NZ, because they laugh when the train announces that it will be terminating in Cockfosters.

I seem to recall someone saying that a certain Australian beer (it's probably the Aussie beer best known by North Americans due to the ads with Paul Hogan) tasted like it was recycled. Could this be associated with the name of that suburb?