It's five minutes from the small town of Likely. Wanted to turn off to mail our postcards from there (for the postmark), but the autocratic chauffeur wouldn't let me.

I like the towns whose fancy foreign names one is
required to mispronounce by the locals -- or get run out of town for being pretentious -- eg, Tete Jaune (pronounce tay zhah), Bienfait (bean fate).

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Bienfait (bean fate).

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Hee heee! I've been to Bienfait many times... Working on a doc about something that happened there... anyway, I get a chuckle at people who pronounce it the French way in Saskatchewan, because you always get looked at like you're insane, there's a pause, a hard look, and then they say "You mean Beanfate?"

I actually had somebody argue with me over the pronunciation (an Easterner)... I just refer them to the locals if they wish to quibble.

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Originally posted by skdadl:
Is Likely anywhere near Spuzzum?

I like the towns whose fancy foreign names one is
required to mispronounce by the locals -- or get run out of town for being pretentious -- eg, Tete Jaune (pronounce tay zhah), Bienfait (bean fate).

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One of my favourites is Le Village de Rapides-des-Joachims, Que. Universally pronounced -- by Francophones and Anglophones alike -- "Da Swisha," or simply "Swisha."

Edited to add:

I like this. If you need to transact business in and around Swisha, you can reach the town clerk the first, second, or third Tuesday of the month, or the last Friday of the month.

[ 06 May 2003: Message edited by: 'lance ]

[ 06 May 2003: Message edited by: 'lance ]

Going north, you pass through places like Lucan and Dublin, then it changes to fine Bruce county names like Arran Lake, not too far from the small town of Scone. Which is a bit north of Nuestead, which every Kitchener (Berlin) native knows of.

Sometimes the pronunciation gets changed.

Delhi, taken from the City in India of the same spelling, is pronounced Del High instead of Delly.

One name I can't figure out is The Pas Manitoba.

Harkening back to our country's fur-trading history, how about Moyie near Cranbrook, BC. The name, applied by voyageurs, comes from the French moilleur (my apologies on the spelling)meaning to "get wet."

Or Ayuittug (eye-you-we-tuk) on Baffin Island, "the land that never melts." Just turn left at Pangnirtung.

[ 07 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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I remember reading about towns in Newfoundland with names like Dildo and Come-by-chance.

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Ah yes, many a Newfoundland town and park was immortalized in the song

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For some Alberta content... the town of Vulcan has attempted to lure tourists with a Star Trek theme... the town of Coaldale reportedly has not merely a bust, but a statue of Lenin which, curiously, does not feature on its website... and I just like the sound of the name Manyberries.

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I'm gonna pick up on this Alberta theme a bit...

Lance, you missed some of the best ones! The town of St. Paul has the world's first UFO landing pad (honest to goodness, ready to go!)

And either Coaldale or Blairmore (both were bigtime coal mining towns) was run by Communists. So much so that one of the two towns named it's main street Karl Marx Street or some such thing.

Other great Alberta names are Two Hills. Not to be confused with the town of Three Hills in a completely different region of the province.

[ 07 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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I remember reading about towns in Newfoundland with names like Dildo and Come-by-chance. I wonder if they are geographically close or not. It sure would be interesting for travel brochures.

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Other names I like are Skookumchuck (does that mean someone saw a big gopher there?) and Spillamacheen and Walacheen - cant figure what those mean. Fast running water perhaps? Hope B.C. I dont see anything "hopeful" about it, hence some of the locals call it hopeless

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Originally posted by TommyPaineatWork:
One name I can't figure out is The Pas Manitoba.

I could understand Le Pas, or The Pass, but why the English/French mix?

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You're in luck, Tommy. There's a page on aboriginal place names on the department of Indian and Northern Affairs site. Here's what it says:

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The Pas (Manitoba) - originated with the Cree opa, meaning "a narrow place"” or opaskweow, "narrows between high banks."

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LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH is according to one source the longest placename in the world, with 58 letters. It is a town in North Wales meaning "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave" or "St. Mary's (Church) by the white aspen over the whirlpool, and St. Tysilio's (Church) by the red cave" in Welsh.

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And I've actually been to The Pas.

Thicket Portage, MB (aptly named, dense bush only way in or out is by plane, or train)
The Narrows, MB (the WEE gap of land separating Lake Winnipeg and Manitoba, literally, one car width only)
Baldur, MB (of now famed Baldur's Gate gaming legends - though this Baldur was the God of Beauty)
Neepawa, MB (Meaning The Land of Plenty)NOT to be confused with Nipawin SK (this happens a lot)
Urin, SK (I always snickered, "where are we? Urin Saskatchewan! pronounced yur-in)
Iles Des Cheines, MB
Notre Dame, MB (a French community, named after... take a guess!)
Head-Smashed-In (AB I think)Of aboriginal fame, it's a buffalo jump, SAY isn't there a Buffalo Jump somewhere in Canada too?

Too many to write them all down! But it made for interesting car trips!

[ 07 May 2003: Message edited by: shelby9 ]

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MPP PROUD TO BE A BASTARD

Bob Runciman, PC MPP for the rural eastern Ontario riding of Leeds-Grenville, recently told the Legislature that he was proud to be a bastard. He also accused Premier Rae of being a bastard.

The occasion was the 20th anniversary of the township of Bastard and South Burgess, which is named after a... bastard. Rich in Loyalist Ontario history, this is also the area that became home to that great Canadian patriot, Benedict Arnold, after the U.S. War of Independence. Because of his loyalty to the Queen, Arnold was given 1,800 acres of prime land in the Bastard township area.

Many Americans, on the other hand, are taught that Arnold was one of the worst traitors in American history. To our friends south of the border, he was... a bastard.

Runciman told the Legislature that residents of the Bastard township have provided pins, one of which he was wearing, that said, "I'm Proud to be a Bastard."

This was the first time that MPPs could remember Liberal and NDP MPPs all agreeing with something that Runciman said. Runciman went on to say that an original song had been commissioned. (To be sung by Bob and Doug McKenzie, eh! -- ed.)

"Premier Rae and his family have been longtime summer residents of the township," Runciman continued. "Although I frequently disagree with many of his government's initiatives, we're proud to have him as a resident and a legitimate Bastard."

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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You're in luck, Tommy. There's a page on aboriginal place names on the department of Indian and Northern Affairs site. Here's what it says:

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Thanks, Vicky.

Funny how a place name that looks like a confusion of French and English turns out to be a corruption of a native name.

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Its main drag is named "Kaiser William Avenue," and it also features streets named "Moltke," "Bismarck" and "Otto."

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Which place in Canada has the longest name?

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The indispensable Geist magazine just had a little item on this. (You can find out more at the web site of the Geographical Names Board of Canada).

The longest they listed, at 68 characters, was

"Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde, Ont."

But this is likely just an artifact of Ont. gov't amalgamation. The next longest they listed, at 64 characters, was

"Cape St. George-Petit Jardin-Grand Jardin-De Grau-Marches
Point-Loretto, Newf."

Which for that matter could be due to amalgamation, too.

Then there's "Cours d'eau du Cordon des Terres des Sixieme et Septieme Rangs, Que."

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: 'lance ]

Tuktoyaktuk

I don't know why? But it has such a nice clicking to it.....

Back to towns: Kinoosao on Reindeer Lake in Northern Saskatchewan. Wish they could have gotten a few more o's in there.

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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outlying village called Ceepeecee-emel

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The Cecil Ross Foundation is the half of the CPC that ended up with the property (vs the other half that ended up with the funds). It contributes to extremely worthy causes.

"Cecil Ross," whom for many years I thought was, like, an actual person, is ekchully the intersection in Toronto at which the mansion stands etc etc.

I like the sound of Kleena Kleene, Radium Falls, and Needle BC.

To add to the list of standardized mispronunciations, the folks in aforementioned Pouce Coupé will nudge each other if they hear cityfolks call it anything other than Poooose Cooop.

A northerner once told me about Chicken, Alaska, where they couldn't spell ptarmigan. But she was putting me on, right?

[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: scrabble ]

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The Cecil Ross Foundation is the half of the CPC that ended up with the property (vs the other half that ended up with the funds). It contributes to extremely worthy causes.

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But of course! Don't worry about me, I'll be all right.

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"Cecil Ross," whom for many years I thought was, like, an actual person, is ekchully the intersection in Toronto at which the mansion stands etc etc.

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For a while back there I dated a woman who lived around the corner from this place. Walking by it once at night, she told me it was owned by the Communist Party. By night or day, it was somehow creepy-looking -- or so I remember it. Immaculately maintained building and grounds, but nothing -- not even curtains -- visible in the windows, which were unlighted at night.

[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: 'lance ]

Wawa, Ontario.

a) I have heard from at least three different cross-Canada hitchhikers that one can "get stuck" in Wawa. "The worst is Wawa, man. I only got stuck for a coupla weeks, but I met guys there who never left."

b) I use this word as an alternate for pudenda. "Woa! If you sit like that in your short skirt, I can see all the way to your wawa!" Or, "Those little Speedo®s seem to be constricting his wawa. Ouch." Is it just me?

Kamloops, BC, doesn't excite me as a town name. However, I snarfed my tea the first time I heard someone say, "As a Kamloopsian, I really object to..."

[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: scrabble ]

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I have heard from at least three different cross-Canada hitchhikers that one can "get stuck" in Wawa. "The worst is Wawa, man. I only got stuck for a coupla weeks, but I met guys there who never left."

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I think the Wawa photogallery (snicker snicker) says it all

[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: 'lance ]

UnionMade, your friend and mine, was one of those "stuck" folks. If he writes about it, does that make it reliable documentation? Would you trust the word of a guy who was commissioned to write the official history of the CPC? I dunno. (Did we spend too much time at afu, my sweet?)

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Originally posted by scrabble:

UnionMade, your friend and mine, was one of those "stuck" folks. If he writes about it, does that make it reliable documentation?

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Of course. But let me be clearer. That hitchhikers have gotten stuck in Wawa, I don't doubt. That more hitchhikers have gotten stuck there -- per capita, of course, I mean I am a self-respecting pendant -- than in, oh, Dryden, Kenora, Rainy River... that's what I'm a little skeptical about.

I strongly suspect exaggeration based on the fact that being stuck in Wawa seems so much worse than being stuck in Dryden, Kenora, and so forth. Hard though that is for me to believe.

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Would you trust the word of a guy who was commissioned to write the official history of the CPC? I dunno.

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I do wish you hadn't reminded me of that.

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(Did we spend too much time at afu, my sweet?)

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Not possible; an inherently self-contradictory and meaningless question; wash your mouth out with soap forthwith, scrabble.

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Then there was the time Pox Smurphy tried to pronounce Quesnel (kwehNELL or kwaNELL; pretend that's a schwa, eh?) on Cross Country - "Our next caller is from - uh - kwes - KUS - uh - sorry, I do apologize, uh - KESno?" I think I felt sorry for him. Just a little.

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Waywayseecappo, MB (also the name of the Indian reserve there)

Ebb and Flow, MB

Also in the same province, Senate and Consul. Never knew the Romans settled in Canada!

I also think there is a place called Kookoosint somewhere in one of the provinces. It was actually the name given by the Cree to the explorer-surveyor David Thompson. It literally means "you who look at the stars."

And Illicillewaet, the name of a small river near the Rogers Pass. I have been to its headwaters. Very remote and beautiful country.

[ 14 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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Originally posted by Aviator:
Wasn't (or isn't) there a Swastika, Ont?

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: Aviator ]

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yep. Its near Kirkland Lake i believe. Excellent fishin.

and the wawa hitchiking thing is quite true. I'm lucky I know some quality people in the area who are always too happy to give me a ride to the soo or to thunder bay whenever I'm stuck around there.

Of course I've put the whole bikeage/hitchhiking/random vagrancy thing off for a while, seeing as I've sold out, settled down, joined the ndp, and now have a campaign to run against, oddly enough, the genuine bastard previously mentioned in this thread. I was looking over a map of my riding and it indeed gave me mild giggles.

My favourite place name, along with favourite place, as far as central ontario is concerned, would be Ompah, ontario. Brings to mind oompah loompahs. Little stumpy german people. Accordions. Kazoos. Then there's nearby Plevna. Makes me think of cheese. I know, very steve urkel of me.

The greatest thing about ompah is the big red sign, kinda imposing to some, that you see as you enter. big block letters: welcome to ompah, home of..... the STOMP!!!

the ompah stomp is a now defunct country music festival. Drunkenness. Mullets. Good times, my friends.

Theres also a hotel there, I think its abandoned, at least it looks that way, scary lookin place to say the least. What else... oh yes, the general store, with the big guitar for a sign. This place can be described as beautifully desolate. Kerouac would have loved to go through there. I was at a thrift store in Belleville and came across an ompah ballcap with a large buck on it. I almost died. I could go on but won't.

I also get a kick out of Coboconk, ontario, which, if my memory serves me correctly, is near peterborough, or maybe lindsay. And Kazuabazua, quebec, in the gatineau region. Pronounced "kah-jah-bah-jah". Typing that felt dirty.

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Originally posted by kingblake:
my favorite roadsign in quebec is the one announcing exits for the three oddest sounding towns in PQ:
St. Telesphore
St. Zotique
St. Polycarpe.
Are these real saints, and if so, what are they the Saints of?

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that sign is 2 minutes from where my mom lives.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ The Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14477b.htm St Telesphorus (pope in early church)

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12219b.htm St Polycarp (martyr of early church)

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I like towns with a weird history to their names. Like Ladysmith (and numerous streets) that is named from the Boer War

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