By adamg on Wed., 10/4/2023 - 10:31 am
Rejected Massachusetts Town Names is a site that lets you generate Massachusetts places names just by clicking a button. Who's up for a trip to North Fitchbridge?
Also see: The classic list.
Via Drew.
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Eastborough and Wessex County come to mind
By necturus
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 10:38am
Massashusetts is so gender-queer that it even has a Middlesex County.
More seriously, the two names that amuse me most are Southborough and Sudbury. They both come from Old English words that mean "southern fort (burg)", but "Sudbury" is the old dative case form, while "Southborough" is nominative.
I was always amused that
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/06/2023 - 9:24am
I was always amused that Massachusetts had a Middleton, a Centerville and a Middleborough, and they're nowhere near each other (and the last of the three is nowhere near Southborough, Northborough, et al.).
Blame the British.
By JonT
Fri, 10/06/2023 - 12:16pm
Southborough and Sudbury are both place names in England, so it's their fault.
Seinfeld
By anon (not verified)
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 10:56am
Don't forget "Latham, MA", from the Seinfeld finale.
The Joe Kennedy for Senate campaign
By jmeltzer
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 11:06am
could have used this.
And then there's Stoneham
By Percy L (not verified)
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 11:13am
Stoneham is the only eastern Massachusetts municipality that I am aware of having two longstanding accepted pronunciations: While STONE-(h)em seems more common nowadays, at least a generation ago STONE-HAM (equal emphasis, H pronounced) was very common among longtime townies and is still heard today.
Norfolk would like to have a word
By adamg
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 12:02pm
It seems to have at least three acceptable pronunciations:
Norf-fk
Norfork
Nor-folk
Norfork
By Ben_Quahog
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 7:48pm
I've only heard Nebraskans say Norfork [youtube=224x126]yIR3NU3P_bU[/youtube]
Not to mention..
By Neal
Thu, 10/05/2023 - 12:27am
Billerica:
Bill-rica
Bul'rica
Bill-a-rica
Bill-erica (I think I've only heard that one said in jest)
Huh?
By perruptor
Thu, 10/05/2023 - 2:21am
I may not have the best ear for such things, but when I hear locals say it, I don't hear any 'L' at all, like Birricah.
Here you go
By Hunter (not verified)
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 11:22am
Belchingham
Bridgebridge
New Glouceborough (pronounced New Gloss-a-bro)
Needhead
Rockonkportport by the Sea
You mean there's a new
By C. Montgomery Burns (not verified)
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 11:43am
You mean there's a New Braintree?
There is
By perruptor
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 6:37pm
Here
Does that mean...
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/06/2023 - 9:25am
Does that mean we can get rid of the old one?
Be careful
By perruptor
Fri, 10/06/2023 - 2:28pm
There's also a New Boston. In New Hamster.
You Know The Middle of Nowhere?
By John Costello
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 6:45pm
New Braintree is next to it.
A guy who I went to HS and college with was a Statie. I asked him what's it like getting to New Braintree from the Pike for training? He rolled his eyes because its about 20 miles of back roads with everyone going the under the speed limit in front of you afraid that the Staties would pull them over.
New Braintree had a private school which shut down in the mid-80's. The state wanted to make the school a prison and all the locals got all peasants with pitchforks about it. The prison scheme died and then MCI-Shirtucky was built. The school became a State Police training facility.
The move to build the prison was a major sticking point in trying to derail Mike Dukakis.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-10...
When the original Braintree voted for Scott Brown...
By necturus
Thu, 10/05/2023 - 5:25pm
...we learned that brains do not, in fact, grow on trees.
East Burndoverham
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 11:59am
I liked that one.
Scroughton is still a fave.
UPDATE: okay, gotta give some props to the retro-futuristic "Arlington by the Sea".
Scroughton?
By perruptor
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 6:43pm
I believe you're thinking of Scroughtham.
McSweeny's list from 2012
By DerekLessing
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 12:45pm
Here.
My favorite is Unstable (/unst’-a-bull/)
One of the all-time great McSweeny articles
By monkeynaut
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 1:47pm
I drive through Dunstable with some regularity and always smile when my brain automatically reverts to calling it Unstable because of that article.
My favorite of the list is Hamham. I hope someone can incorporate a new town with that name.
My favorite is Braintree
By BostonDog
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 2:39pm
What a hilarious fake name. It's the sort of thing you could almost hear someone saying in Massachusetts. It's that absurd.
While few people know about
By dvg
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 3:09pm
While few people know about it, Flatustbury, which is South or Belchertown in central Mass, is one of our state's windiest location.
.
By BostonDog
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 4:18pm
.
The last time I was in that part of Massachusetts
By jmeltzer
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 4:38pm
I thought of taking a picture of the Athol - Belchertown highway direction sign on Route 2A.
Their high schools are in the same football league. I can only imagine how fragrant the fans are.
If you click long enough,
By Dave
Thu, 10/05/2023 - 9:52am
If you click long enough, does it come up with Woodwood?
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