Rude and crude, but it’s our home
This story appeared earlier this week on Jim’s blog at thestar.com/travel.
I’ve been hanging onto this one for a while, not quite sure whether it fits a family newspaper like the Star. But I spotted a BBC post today on the rudest place names in Britain, so I figured I may as well let loose with my own findings on unusual/suggestive place names in Canada and the U.S.
The Brits, of course, have always had colourful names for everything from towns to food, such as Toad in the Hole. Much more inventive than North America, where we serve hot dogs and club sandwiches and chicken wings (although in Buffalo you can get Beef on Weck, which actually sounds like a farming community in England when you think about it).
Anyway, the BBC story is a hugely fun piece that talks about places like Cockermouth, Crotch Crescent, Fanny Hands Lane, Twatt (there are two of them, apparently), Hornyold Road, Back Passage and Cocks, not to mention Shitterton and Sandy Balls. The BBC also cites a place called Beaverclose, which is an easy one for Canada of course and, therefore, too easy a target for me.
There used to be a street in England called Butt Hole Road in Conisbrough but they changed it a while back to Archers Way.
I had fun (hey, somebody has to do it) some time back checking out some Canadian examples. The most obvious and best-known is, of course, Dildo, Nfld. There’s also Come-by-Chance, of course.
But you might not know about a few places I stumbled across, in- cluding Climax, Sask., Crapaud, P.E.I., and Ta Ta Creek, B.C. (not sure if it’s a bodacious creek or just normal-sized). There must be some rude spots in Ontario, prudish as we may be, but I haven’t been able to find them.
The U.S., however, is a gold mine: Butts, Georgia; Nutts, Arkansas, New Erection, Virginia; Hooker Hole, Louisiana; Fort Dick, California; Intercourse, Pennsylvania; Fanny, West Virginia; Easytown, Indiana; Assawoman Bay, Maryland; and Threeway, Mississippi among them.
PORTER POLL
Interesting to see that Porter Airlines poll that shows two-thirds of Torontonians support the idea of jets using the Toronto Island/ Billy Bishop Airport.
Porter has been selling the idea of so-called “whisper jets,” said to be quieter than the turboprops now in use at the Island and four times quieter than standard jet engines. The poll should help Porter get approval from authorities, but I still suspect it faces a tough battle at city council. jbyers@thestar.ca