I have long thought that the Pacific Northwest (i.e. Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, and some of northern California) possesses the most ridiculous place names of anywhere in North America (and possibly the world). Much of this is a product of local Native languages, as it is all over North America, but some of it is just human silliness. Some of the pronunciations are reasonable (enough), but some are maddeningly unintuitive and therefore—rightly or wrongly—employed as shibboleths to identify ‘true’ PNWers from everybody else (mostly Californians, even those who moved to the area years ago and are now locals).
If I’ve left anything off this list that you feel merits inclusion in such a, uh, worthy list, please leave it in a comment.
Silly-sounding place names
- Agassiz, BC (pronounced ag-uh-SEE)
- Aloha, OR (pronounced uh-LO-uh)
- Boring, OR
- Champoeg, OR (pronounced sham-POO-ee)
- Chehalis, WA (pronounced sha-HEY-liss)
- Chilliwack, BC
- Cle Elum, WA
- Coos Bay, OR (pronounced so that coos rhymes with goose)
- Coquitlam (and Port Coquitlam), BC
- Ekalaka, MT (pronounced ee-kuh-LAH-kuh)
- Estacada, OR (pronounced es-tuh-KAY-duh, like the name Kay)
- Esquimalt, BC (pronounced ess-KWAI-malt)
- Issaquah, WA (pronounced IZZ-ah-kwah)
- Klickitat (and Klickitat County), WA
- La Center, WA
- Moscow, ID (pronounced MOSS-koo)
- Nisqually, WA (not to be confused with Old Nisqually, WA)
- Onalaska, WA
- Osoyoos, BC (pronounced oh-SOY-yooz)
- Owhyee, ID (pronounced oh-WHY-yee)
- Pe Ell, WA (pronounced like the letters P and L)
- Puyallup, WA (a true shibboleth: pronounced pyoo-AL-up)
- Sequim, WA (pronounced skwim)
- Skamokawa, WA (pronounced ska-MOCK-a-way)
- Snohomish and Snohomish County, WA (pronounced snow-HO-mish)
- Snoqualmie, WA (pronounced snow-KWAL-mee)
- Sprague, WA (pronounced spreyg, in one syllable)
- Steillacoom, WA (pronounced STILL-a-koom)
- Squamish, BC
- Wahkiakum County, WA
- Walla Walla, WA
- Whatcom County, WA
- Willamette and the Willamette River, OR (another classic shibboleth: pronounced to rhyme with dammit)
- Yreka, CA (pronounced why-REE-kuh)
However, the one Cree village in Québec definitely deserves to be on this list too: Whapmagoostui, PQ. Also, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is pretty good.
Tags: america, british columbia, california, canada, first nations, funny, idaho, language, montana, oregon, washington
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12 March 2008 at 12:00 pm
Alexa
Oregon itself makes a pretty good shibboleth, since non-natives like to pronounce it OreGON, but as the bumper sticker says, it’s ORygun.
But here’s a few more that I’d add:
Irrigon, OR (According to my trusty Geographic Place Names of Oregon, the name is a combination of “Irrigation” and “Oregon”. I have also heard the rumor that the correct pronunciation is IrriGON, thereby guaranteeing that nobody but a local, um, Irrigonian?, can pronounce it correctly, but I can’t confirm that rumor.)
Tualatin, OR (pronounced tu-AH-la-tin, not tu-a-LAT-in)
Tigard, OR (tai-gard, not tiggard)
Umatilla, OR (YUmatilla)
Yakima, WA (YAK-i-ma)
Yachats, OR (ya-hahts)
Halfway, Drain, Zigzag, and Boring, OR, Yelm, WA and Eureka and Weed, CA are also pretty silly names, but hardly hard to pronounce.
That said, I still think South Dildo, Newfoundland is the silliest place name ever.