weird country names

Weird Country Names

Weird Country Names
1. Saint Louis du Ha Ha QC
The municipality of SaintLouisduHa! Ha! in Quebec has a name that makes perfect sense in French. Sort of. The Ha! Ha! is officially traced back to an archaic French term, The haha, which means an unexpected obstacle or dead end. This would refer to Lake T
2. Nottawa ON
Super punny and geographically accurate, this towns claim to fame is that its, well, not Ottawa.
3. SANTA CLAUS INDIANA
In 1854, a group of pioneers settled in southwest Indiana and established a small town called Santa Fe. But when they applied to get a post office two years later, they were turned down. There was already another Santa Fe, Indiana, with a post office. The new Santa Fe would need a new, distinct name to get one of their own. Fact and legend blur when it comes to how the town settled on calling itself Santa Claus. The standard version of the story goes like this: the townspeople held several meetings over the next few months to select a new name, but could not agree on one. The last town meeting of the year was held late on Christmas Eve after church services. During the debate, a gust of wind blew open the church doors and everyone heard the ringing of sleigh bells close by. Several children got excited and shouted Santa Claus! A light bulb went off in someones head and by Christmas morning, the town had a new name.
4. INTERCOURSE PENNSYLVANIA
The town of Cross Keys, nestled in Pennsylvanias Amish country, changed its name to Intercourse in 1814. How and why is anybodys guess. There are a few explanations floating around about the origin of the name, but none with a lot of solid evidence to back them up. One story ties it to a racetrack that used to exist just east of the town. The entrance to the track had a sign above it that read Enter Course. Locals began to refer to the town as Entercourse, which eventually evolved into Intercourse. Another proposed origin has to do with an old usage of the word intercourse
5. IDIOTVILLE OREGON
Idiotville is a ghost town and former logging community northwest of Portland. Most of its former residents worked at a nearby logging camp called Ryans Camp. Because of the camps remote location, locals said that only an idiot would work and live there. They began referring to the surrounding area as Idiotville. The name was eventually borrowed for a nearby stream, Idiot Creek, and officially applied to the community on maps.
6. TOAD SUCK ARKANSAS
A widely accepted story about Toad Sucks name dates back to the days of steamboat travel on the Arkansas River. Toad Suck sits along the river and its tavern was a frequent stop for boatmen, who were said to suck on the bottle until they swelled up like toads.
7. EIGHTY EIGHT KENTUCKY
Eighty Eight is an unincorporated town in Barren County. According to the New York Times, Dabnie Nunally, the towns first postmaster, came up with the name. Nunnally didnt think very highly of his handwriting, and thought that using a number as the towns name would make legibility on mail less of an issue. To come up with the numbers, he reached into his pocket and counted his change. He had 88 cents. An alternate explanation sometimes floated around is that Eighty Eight is located eight miles from each of its neighboring towns
8. EIGHTY FOUR PENNSYLVANIA
Eighty Four is a small unincorporated community southwest of Pittsburgh. It was originally named Smithville, but Pennsylvania already had a Smithville (also a New Smithville), so the USPS required a name change to avoid postal confusion. The true origin of the name is unknown, but its been suggested that the number comes from the towns place along the 84th mile of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, or the year the post office was built.
9. DING DONG TEXAS
The fact that Ding Dong is in central Texas Bell County is a funny coincidence. The county was named for Governor Peter Bell, and the town for resident and businessman Zulis Bell and his nephew Bert (no relation to the governor). The Bells ran a general store and hired a local painter named C.C. Hoover to make a sign for their business. Hoover supposedly illustrated the sign with two bells inscribed with the Bells names, and then wrote Ding Dong coming out the bottom of the bells. As a rural community grew around the area, the words stuck as a name for the place.
10. CUT AND SHOOT TEXAS
In the early 1900s, trouble was brewing in a small, unnamed community a little north of Houston. Different versions of a local legend say that the townspeople were fighting over either the new steeple for the towns church; the matter of which denominations could use the building (and when); or the land claims of church members. Whatever the reason, the townspeople had gathered near the church and were on the brink of violence. A boy at the scene supposedly declared to his family that he was going to take up a tactical position and cut around the corner and shoot through the bushes. The matter was eventually taken before the court. When the judge asked one witness where the confrontation had taken place, he didnt know what to call it, since the town didnt have a name. He told the judge, I suppose you could call it the place where they had the cutting and shooting scrape, and the name stuck.