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User:Jooler/List of interesting or unusual place names

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The following international geographical names are either interesting or unusual. This list is provided chiefly for its comparative value as part of social linguistics.

Exactly what is "interesting or unusual" is of course open to debate, but most of the names fall into recognisable categories:

Many place names that appear odd to English-speakers are from other languages. Often they are either meaningless or innocuous in their own tongue. The arguably best-known examples of this are the town of Condom, France, and the village of Fucking, Austria.

Because of problems associated with an unusual place name, some towns and cities have chosen to rename themselves.

Any places on this list must be notable enough for their own article (i.e. towns and suburbs are acceptable but minor streets, lookouts, streams, ETC are not).

0–9

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A

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The village of Å in Norway

B

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Road sign for Boring, Oregon

C

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Cumming Street and Seaman Avenue in Manhattan New York City

D

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Sign pointing to Dildo, Newfoundland and Labrador

E

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F

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G

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H

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Old cargo handling office, Hell railway station, Norway

I

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J

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K

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L

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A sign showing the name and English translation of the town

M

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N

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O

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P

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Q

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R

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S

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Shag Point, New Zealand

T

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U

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V

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Road sign with Wedding inscribed on it (Berlin, Germany)

W

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X

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Xantippe, Australia

Y

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Z

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Sign to Zzyzx Road, on Interstate 15, California

See also

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Further reading

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  • Far from Dull: and other places ISBN 095422177X
  • Rude Britain - with selected photographs and explanations of rude-sounding places and street names