Roads and Places

Jun 25th, 2010 by Frog Prince

In Penang, there is a residential area where you have road names like Jalan Cantik (Beautiful Road) and Jalan Bersih (Clean Road). Sounds like the person who named them simply pick the names from a list of adjectives.

Although not typical names, these are nothing compared to some names in other countries. Take a look at the one below:

Imagine when you are giving your address to the girl that you’ve just met – ‘Your place or mine? Oh, mine? It’s at Butthole Lane’. Not exactly very romantic.

And while it’s uncommon, you’ll be surprised to find that there’s another one called Butt Hole Road. But while the people in Shepshed are proud of Butthole Lane, residents in Conisburgh paid £300 to have it changed to Archers Way. They were tired of tourists posing next to the sign with exposed butts (can’t say I blame them!).

And in another part of UK, we have this instead:

A matching pair, don’t you think?

But the Brits are apparently fond of having road names or even village name that are cheeky (and sometimes loaded with double entendre) as these names prove:

It is said, though, that the names were originally innocent. For instance, butt used to refer to water butt which is a container for storing water, so butt hole means water source, not *that* part of the human anatomy.

And sometimes, it’s how we perceive the name in English. I am sure in Danish, Badfart does not mean naughty gas and the French probably does not have the derriere in mind when they named the town Anus.

Across the ocean, we also have places in America where the names will make either make you crack a smile or raise an eyebrow. In Pennsylvania, there are Intercourse, Virginville, Hookersville and Horneytown (which is located nearby Hookersville). If you are in a creative mood, you can probably make up a story from the names!

If you aren’t ‘up’ to the task, then perhaps another town will help. I am talking about Dildo, a town in Newfoundland, Canada.

While it has a long history going back all the way to 2000BC, it is of course, most famous for its name and now has a fast-growing tourism industry.

And although I have enjoyed getting to know these places as I research for this article, I do wonder if any of our local names mean anything obscene or crude in another language. Or if they have been picking up Bahasa Malaysia, they may be chuckling over the fact that Kuala Lumpur means muddy river mouth in English.

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