Copyright Victoria Elizabeth 2004. All rights reserved.

WHAT DO 'DEAD HORSE' AND 'DEVIL'S BACKBONE' HAVE IN COMMON?

-- A Misguided Guide to Unusual Placenames in America --

It is said that England has more than a few rather quaint placenames such as Bodmin, Grimbister, Ipswich, Nobottle, No Man's Land, Pie Corner, Pratt's Bottom, Scrabster and Twatt but, they pale in comparison to the plethora of picturesque placenames in the "New World".

For those with precious little to do, why not take a wee peek at a few of the curious and entertaining placenames found in the United States of America (like Zap, North Dakota and Knockemstiff, Ohio).

This state of affairs naturally begs several questions.

1. Just who might be eager to visit these out-of-the-way, off-the-beaten track, and some might even say, downright peculiar places like Nothing, Arizona or Floyds Knobs, Indiana? 2. What do real estate agents say and do to attract new property owners to King of Prussia, Valentine or Santa Clause?

3. Who lives in Nags Head or Lynchburg?

4. Why would anyone name a place "Punxsutawney" unless of course, one had nothing better to do on "National Groundhog Appreciation Day"?

5. Where is Frostproof, Funkstown, Pottawattamie, Romeoville and Willacoochee anyway?

So grab yourself an atlas or a map and whatever you do, drop by and say hello to the folks in:

-- Chicken, Deadhorse or Eek (Alaska)

-- Burnt Corn, Intercourse, Muck City, Rooster (Alabama)

-- Bagdad, Boneyard, Floss, Goobertown, Nothing, Why (Arizona)

-- Fannie, Greasy Corner, Grubbs, Hooker, Okay, Possum Grape, Smackover, Toad Suck, Turkey Scratch, Weiner, Yellville (Arkansas)

-- Blunt, Bummerville, Deadwood, Doghouse Junction, Frying Pan, Hellhole Palms, Hells Kitchen, Hooker, Last Chance, Mormon Bar, Needles, Ono, Prunedale, Rescue, Relief, Scarface, Squabbletown, Sucker Flat, Timbuctoo, Toad Town, Volcano, Weedpatch, Wimp, You Bet, Yreka Zzyzx (California)

-- Climax, Last Chance, No Name, Parachute, Purgatory (Colorado)

-- Giants Neck, Mianus, Moosup (Connecticut)

-- Howey-in-the-Hills, Kissimmee, Okahumpka, Sopchoppy, Two Egg, Weeki Wachee, Yeehaw Junction (Florida)

-- Between, Chickasawhatchee, Climax, Enigma, Hopeulikit, Talking Rock (Georgia)

-- Good Grief, Beer Bottle Crossing (Idaho)

--Bald Knob, Devil's Backbone, Grand Detour, Kickapoo, Paw Paw, Roachtown (Illinois)

-- French Lick, Gnaw Bone, Loogootee, Naked City, Roachdale, Toad Hop (Indiana)

-- Diagonal, Gravity, What Cheer (Iowa) Perdition, Ransom (Kansas)

-- Beaver Lick, Bugtussle, Chicken Gizzard, Crummies, Do Stop, Monkeys Elbow, Mousie, Mud Lick, Oddville, Ogle, Spring Lick, Rabbit Hash, Typo (Kentucky)

-- Belcher, Cut-Off, Fort Necessity, Grosse Tete, Mudville, Tickfaw, Waterproof (Louisana)

-- Bald Head, Dickey, Beans Corner Bingo (Maine)

-- Accident, Assawoman Bay, Boring, Crapo, Cockeysville (Maryland)

-- Belchertown, Cow Yard, Mashpee, Sandwich, Swampscott (Massachusetts)

-- Bad Axe, Climax, Hell, Jugville, Kalamazoo, Podunk, Slapneck (Michigan)

-- Climax, Embarass, Nimrod, Nowthen, Savage, Sleepy Eye (Minnesota)

-- Bobo, Chunky, Dragon, Possumneck, Sanatorium, Soso, Yazoo (Mississippi)

-- Conception, Cooter, Enough, Frankenstein, Licking, Peculiar, Roach, Sleeper, Tightwad (Missouri)

-- Bitter Root, Elmo, Hungry Horse, Rocky Boy, Square Butt, Two-Dot, Yaak (Montana)

-- Colon, Fort Crook, Road, Wahoo, Weeping Water, Worms (Nebraska)

-- Bunkerville, Incline Village, Lovelock, Owyhee, Pahrump, Searchlight, Verdi-Mogul, Weed Heights, Winnemucca (Nevada)

-- Bungy, Contoocook, Hell Hollow, Lost Nation, Sandwich Landing (New Hampshire)

-- Bivalve, Brick, Ho-Ho Kus, Little Egg Harbor, Love Ladies, Succasuna (New Jersey)

-- Elephant Butte, Tingle, Truth or Consequences (New Mexico)

-- Cat Elbow Corner, Climax, Coxsackie, Hicksville, Horseheads, Peekskill, Neversink, Yaphank Yonkers (New York)

-- Climax, Gum Neck, Horneytown, Lizard Lick, Meat Camp, Tick Bite, Toast, Whynot (North Carolina)

-- Concrete, Hoople, Voltaire, Zap (North Dakota)

-- Blue Ball, Climax, Fly, Knockemstiff, Three Legs Town (Ohio)

-- Bowlegs, Frogville, Hooker, Okay, Pumpkin Center, Slapout, Slaughterville (Oklahoma)

-- Boring, Drain, Halfcom, Idiotville, Zig Zag (Oregon)

-- Balltown, Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, Climax, Drab, Experiment, Fear Not, Gobbler's Knob, Hempfield, Intercourse, Loyalsockville, Panic, Porkey, Scalp Level, Uno, Virginville (Pennsylvania)

-- Mooseup Valley, Quidnick, Quonochontaug, Woonsocket (Rhode Island)

-- Coward, Due West, Ninetimes, Sugar Tit (South Carolina)

-- Bath, Igloo, Lemmon, Peever, Red Shirt (South Dakota)

-- Bugscuffle, Bucksnort, Defeated, Difficult, Duck Town, Finger, Nameless, Only, Smartt, Sweet Lips, Static, Yum Yum (Tennessee)

-- Cut-n-Shoot, Dime Box, Ding Dong, Frognot, Gun Barrel City, Hoop and Holler, Leaky, Loco, Looneyville, Muleshoe, Notrees, Pointblank, Possum Kingdom, Run and Shoot, Tarzan, Trophy Club, Turkey, Twitty, Uncertain, (Texas)

-- Bald Knob, Hurricane, Lovelock, Orderville (Utah)

-- Bread Loaf, Mosquitoville, Notown, Satans Kingdom (Vermont)

-- Bumpass, Croaker, Frogtown, Goochland, Goosepimple Junction, Mutt, Nuttsville, Ordinary (Virginia)

-- Enumclaw, Humptulips, Klickitat, Kooskooskie, Tumtum, Tumwater (Washington)

-- Big Ugly, Crum, HooHoo, Looneyville, Lost City, Nitro, Odd, Paw, Pinch, War (West Virginia)

-- Embarrass, Footville, Imalone, Spread Eagle, Ubet, Wanderoos (Wisconsin)

-- Bill, Camel Hump, Meeteetse, Muddy Gap (Wyoming)

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And, if you want to find these places on a map, go to: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form

For a complete list of placenames go to: http://www.census.gov/tiger/tms/gazetteer/places2k.txt