Signs of the Time#12

For this Signs of the Time I feature place names that often have nothing to do with the language they were originally intended for, regarding their snigger value in English. I’m sure there are plenty of place names in your neighbourhood that have warranted a chuckle. There’s a whole bunch in Ireland that’ve had me scratching my head in the past, like Hackballscross, in south Armagh. Here’s a few Irish place names and a couple of foreign place names, that might have you scratching your head. Scratching anywhere else might suggest a visit to the nearest medical clinic?

Muff, in County Donegal, is one of the best examples and there isn’t a joke about this town’s name they haven’t heard. So, don’t ask about the local diving club, Muff is close to the sea but the town is landlocked.

The success of the Fr Ted series has given the phrase ‘feck’ it’s own place in the Oxford English dictionary and raised Termonfeckin’s cool value on the snicker scales

But who wants to live in the towns of Fartsville or Poopsdale that have, what we used to say in the property journalism business, a crap address?

Then there’s some names, in political terms, that are just unfortunate, if unintended.

Or other place names, like this one,supplied by my old friend, Ronan Quinlan, from outside an old folk’s home, that might be called, a dead end.