From Pratt's Bottom to Puddletown - place names to make you smile

Q. So Piddletrenthide isn't the only one then

A. Where do you start There's Crazies Hill in Oxfordshire, Ugley in Essex, Piddles and Puddle in Dorset, Nasty in Bedfordshire, Bat and Ball in Kent (named after a pub), Splott near Cardiff, Eye in Suffolk and Tongue on the north coast of Scotland.

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I could go on. Here's a shortlist of some of the best by category:

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Places that appear to have lost their way

Pennsylvania near Bath, Canada in the New Forest, New York in both Tyne & Wear and Lincolnshire, America in Lincolnshire, Philadelphia in Sheffield, New Zealand in Wiltshire, Egypt in Buckinghamshire, Dresden in Stoke and Moscow and California in Scotland

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Just plain odd

A'Chill on the island of Canna in the Inner Hebrides, Wigtwizzle in Yorkshire, Wood'i'th'hole near Manchester, Westward Ho! (yup, there is a !) in Cornwall, Bunny in Leicestershire, Christmas Pie in Surrey, Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire and Pity Me and No Place in Devon

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Bottom (always a favourite):

Margaret's Bottom, Bug's Bottom, Slap Bottom, Soarly Bottom, Slack Bottom, Black Bottom, Robin Hood's Bottom and Iron's Bottom

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Innuendo (ready for this ):

Sandy Balls in Hampshire, Bell End near Birminghmam, Knob End near Manchester, Penistone in Sheffield, Willey near Stafford, Twatt in the Orkneys and another in the Shetlands, Great Bulging in Sussex, Cock Up in the Peak District and... no more

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Foreign names (bear in mind these words don't mean the same as they do in English)

Hell in Norway, Wankie in Zimbabwe, one that rhymes with bucking in Austria

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...and no end of peculiar names in North America, a few examples of which:

Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand in Pennsylvania, Sanity in Ontario, Dildo and Joe Batt's Arm in Newfoundland and Truth or Consequences in New Mexico.

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For more on this go to

http://www.brakehorsepower.com/speedtrap/daftness.html

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and for places in the USA

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl msg_id=005tAl

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For more on Phrases & Sayings click here

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by Simon Smith