Place Names That Sound Funny to Others.

[Sharnita]

That reminds me, as a history teacher a lot of people are confused by Appomattoc Courthouse.

[kajunchick]

I live in Louisiana, and we have Iowa, pronounced I-o-way and Forked Island, pronounced for-ked, not forkt. Also, Natchitoches (nack-i-dish).

[gmatoy]

In Washington state, we have Walla Walla; there are even books written using Walla Walla in the title. 

And Wapato, which means "potato."

[Elfmama]

That reminds me, as a history teacher a lot of people are confused by Appomattoc Courthouse.

That one got me until we went through the historical site there last summer.  After all, if you read in your history books that General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, you expect that it's the courthouse building in Appomattox, right? 

Nope.  It's a little village named Appomattox Courthouse!

One of my favorite British placenames is Nether Wallop.   

[Piratelvr1121]

There is a small town in New Hampshire called "Dummer".  The larger town next to it, Milan, used to sell t-shirts "The people in Milan might not be smart, but the next town over is Dummer" 


I never thought much about my town's name until The Simpson's made fun of it.  They were visiting NYC and Homer had to pee and a bus drove by, its front sign saying it was headed to Flushing Meadows.  He imagined a large field full of toilets. (I actually just live in Flushing, not Flushing Meadows, but same point.)

I have an uncle from Flushing! I'll admit the name always gave me a giggle when I first heard it (in my defense I was 14!). 

[Katana_Geldar]

My parents used to have a business in Woy Woy. For other double names in Oz look for Kurri Kurri and Wagga Wagga.


Amid always thought Lovedale was rather cute.

[Sharnita]

There is a Flushing in Michigan, too.

[Snowy Owl]

The village of Piddle in Worcestershire was the first one I thought of.  Most amusingly a local brewery markets a beer called "Piddle in the Hole" after that village. 

Other amusing ones are Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire.  Interestingly despite the name, Upper Slaughter is one of the few places that had no combat fatalities in either world war.  Given the death rates in WW1 in particular that's pretty unusual. 

[Julia Mercer]

There's a Petawawa in Ontario somewhere, that always makes me giggle!

[bopper]

Didn't read everything but in NJ we have a town that sounds literally funny: "Ho Ho Kus"

[ladyknight1]

Kissimmee, FL (pronounced Kiss-IH-mee)

Muleshoe, TX

[Piratelvr1121]

I always thought Funkstown was a funny name.   DH and I both attended Salisbury State University, but he always referred to it as "Salisbury Steak University."

[Danika]

Kissimmee, FL (pronounced Kiss-IH-mee)

I know that Kissimmee is very likely a Native American word. But if you have a good friend who speaks Arabic, ask them what Kissimmee means in Arabic. It's very rude and I don't dare post the translation here.

[Faerydust]

Here in Hawaii, lots of the street and city names are difficult to pronounce for visitors. I's usually have an "ee" sound and e's usually have an "ay" sound. For example, there's a Likelike highway and it's pronounced leekayleekay.

There's a beach on Oahu known as Pipeline because the waves almost form a tube shape like a pipe. One of my friend's on Oahu was approached by a tourist looking for "pee-pay-lee-nay beach". At first he had no idea which beach the tourist was referring to. Then he realized the tourist was trying to "Hawaiianize" the word Pipeline. 

[amandaelizabeth]

It can be a bit like that here in Auckland (not Oakland.) Maori is very closely aligned with Haiwaiian.  So there is a suburb called Onehunga which is pronounced O-knee- hun gaa.  We also have English [lace names and there are stories which are propably urban legends of tourists asking for O=Knee Te Ree Hill, instead of One tree Hill.