Monday, November 22, 2004
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
No, nothing has gone wrong with my keyboard. This NYT article points us to the longest geographical name in the US and it's of a lake not too far from Boston! The article is supremely funny; go on and read it all. Here's my favourite excerpt:
As the article points out, the Guinness Book has the "official" name of Bangkok down for longest place name in the world, easily beating Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. If you're crying foul because that name is multi-word, fear not: this BBC Guide site offers the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch for your consideration.
The state, on a lexicographical mercy mission, wanted to remove two of the lake's 15 G's, prompting a poet named Bertha A. Joslin to write "Touch not a G of our big lake!" followed by 55 lines of iambic tetrameter like:
Now puffed up with our pride were we
As if a pedestal ascending
We basked in fame of such a name
With all its g's unending
As the article points out, the Guinness Book has the "official" name of Bangkok down for longest place name in the world, easily beating Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. If you're crying foul because that name is multi-word, fear not: this BBC Guide site offers the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch for your consideration.
