Nick Earls, an Australian author, recently released his latest collection of stories in Welcome to Normal. Normal being a town in Illinois. As a writer it’s attractive to use unusual names as an attention grabber. I started to think about all the quirky, weird and wonderful town names we have in Australia and how I could incorporate them into my own stories.
As a student, I learnt the delightful and iconic Australian song “I’ve Been Everywhere Man” which lists 94 Australian towns and gets everyone tongue tied. “I’ve been everywhere, man…I’ve been to Wollongong, Geelong, Kurrajong, Mullumbimby, Mittagong, Molong, Grong Grong, Goondiwindi…Cabramatta, Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta; what’s it matter?” Many of these names are Aboriginal. Other interesting town names include Come By Chance, Foul Bay, Loos, Nowhere Else, Town of 1770, Tom Ugly, Blackbutt and Broke. Then there is the town of Speed. Last year it changed its name to Speedkills for a month as part of a road safety campaign. Some small towns, like Mutchilda, have to fight to keep their name and fear being merged into nearby towns.
The United States, though, seems to take the cake for unusual names – Intercourse, Chicken, Eek, Carefree, Chloride, Strong, Okay, Toad Suck, Cactus, Harmony, Hell’s Kitchen, Rough and Ready, Embarrass, Last Chance and Rescue – that’s censoring the more risqué. Filling out forms would be very frustrating if you reside in Nameless and who would want to admit living in Idiotville. No wonder it’s a ghost town. Tourist would have low expectations of Ordinary, Boring, Peculiar and Transfer. They may ask why they decided to visit Why and hope for a little romance in Romance. Please don’t ask the next destination – it’s a Surprise.
I challenge you to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Wales) and Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu (New Zealand).
Blow me down I would love to go to Blow Me Down. I would definitely prefer to reside in Heart’s Content than Pleasantville or is Simplicity for me?
A writer’s dream!
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