The UK has many faults, but one thing it has always been fantastic at is giving places utterly silly or verging-on-the-rude names.
Usually these monikers were bestowed in ancient times, when society was a little more innocent, but that doesn’t stop them from tickling people today, especially those who didn’t grow up here and aren’t used to our eccentric little ways.
One of these folks is user Zatoichi_Jones who posted this on the AskUK subreddit:
Is it normal for people in the UK to find the names of small towns and villages funny and a little ridiculous? I have been listening to a lot of podcasts from the UK recently and one thing I’ve noticed is the hosts seem to take great pleasure in laughing at the names of small towns and villages around the country. Is this a normal thing? And if so, what are some of your favourite odd names?
And Brits were queuing up with an abundance of beloved place names to share, like these…
1.
‘Shitterton is a classic.’
–OllyDee
2.
‘Fun fact: about 20 minutes drive from Shitterton, you can find the river Piddle.’
–Ralucahippie
3.
‘Don’t forget the Piddle villages, Piddletrenthide, Piddlehinton, Affpuddle, Briantspuddle, Turnerspuddle, Tolpuddle and Puddletown.
I’ll never forgive the Victorian prudes for renaming most of the piddles to puddles. Locals claim it was on Queen Victoria’s demand prior to a royal visit, but I think Piddletown was the last to be renamed ‘officially’ in the 1950s.’
–Howard1981
4.
‘Pratts Bottom. For real.’
–Zeri-coaihnan
5.
‘Nah, I grew up not far from Bell End and that will never not be funny hahahaha.’
–SirNoodles518
6.
‘Fingringhoe is a classic.’
–douxsoumis
7.
‘Yes, and Cockermouth.’
–thermalcat
8.
‘Theres nothing funny about Sandy Balls, Hampshire. WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!’
–GodDamnShadowban
9.
‘I’ve got a friend from near Thornton-le-Beans. Apparently at one time there was a bit of a trend of inserting the French ‘le’ into names to sound classy. That’s the only reason it’s there!’
–DoctorOctagonapus
10.
‘Westward Ho! The only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in the name.’
–ParmigianoMan
11.
‘Wetwang. Really.’
–yourshelves
12.
‘Yes, and Twatt.’
–Ralphisinthehouse
