Top 10: What is the weirdest name of a place you’ve heard of?
- Readers share the strangest spots they have come across in the world
- This week’s question: What is something people say is easy but never really is?
This week, readers tell us the strangest names of places they have ever come across. Photo: Shutterstock This week’s question: What is something people say is easy but never really is?
To take part, drop us a line via this form or email us at [email protected] by 11.59pm on January 31. Tell us your name, age and school.
Hailey Cheung Hei-yiu, 11, Holy Angels Canossian School: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is a village on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. It holds the Guinness World Record for being the place with the longest name in Europe. The name describes the village’s geographical features and was initially used to attract tourists. Since then, the name has become a popular tourist attraction with visitors flocking to take pictures with the iconic sign displaying the name.
Marco Choi Pui-hei, 17, POCA Wong Siu Ching Secondary School: Boring in Oregon, United States, is probably the strangest name of a place I have heard of. How can a place be called Boring? It is also funny that they have a school named Boring Middle School. Can you imagine a school called Boring? Are the lessons boring there?
Daniel Kwong Chun-him, 13, Christian Alliance S C Chan Memorial College: It is definitely a little town in the United States called Accident. Its population stood only at 338 in 2020. The inhabitants of the town are called “accidental”. It was named by a man called William Deakins, after two engineers surveyed a tract of land for him, starting at an oak tree and returning back to the same point. He chose this plot of land and had it patented “The Accident Tract”. For me, this is an interesting name as it is rare.
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Joanne Fung Kin-tung, 15, Leung Shek Chee College: Last Chance in Colorado, USA. This name is likely to appear in horror movies and remind you that there is danger waiting for you. This place was once a rest area for travellers to replenish gasoline and food with no other options for many miles in either side.
Zariab Muhammad, 12, Maryknoll Fathers School: Uncertain, a city in Harrison County, Texas, in the United States. On the list of weirdest city names, this one perfectly describes where I stand on every important matter. It is at the border between Texas and Louisiana, and initially, it was unclear which state it actually belonged to.
Tin Kit-lo, 15, The Methodist Lee Wai Lee College: Last week, my sister told me about a very weird place called Hell. She said it is a tiny town in Norway. I felt strange, and I didn’t believe her at first. After doing some research, I was shocked to learn that the word hell means luck in Norwegian. In our society, hell is considered a very horrible place, but it is a home and heaven for many people in Norway.
Jasmine Chau Tsz-ching, 14, Stewards Pooi Kei College: Aldrich Bay, located in Sai Wan Ho. It may seem normal in English, but when translated to Chinese, it literally means “rules-loving bay”. I know many street names in Hong Kong were named by the British and then translated into Chinese. This is the most creative and weirdest name I have ever seen. I wonder if people who used to live there loved rules so much that they translated the name here as “rules-loving bay” in Chinese.
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Sue Hung Yeuk-so, 13, Christian Alliance S C Chan Memorial College: The weirdest place I’ve ever heard of is called Poverty Island. It is located in northern Lake Michigan, and it has no inhabitants. However, contrary to its name, the island may be very wealthy, as legend says there is gold in the lake around the area. It is still a mystery as no one has truly found gold there.
Vanya Daga, 11, West Island School: Chad, a country in the centre of Africa. When I first heard about it, I laughed so hard that I started coughing. I feel surprised when I learn about countries that have the names of people like Chad, Jordan and Georgia. It is interesting to learn about these places and find the connection between the name of the country and the history of the area.
Fanny Liang Jifeng, 17, Leung Shek Chee College: Soy Street in Mong Kok. Why did I find this street? It was because one day, my friend asked me to go to Mong Kok, and she told me to wait at Soy Street. At that time, I wondered if the street was full of soy sauce shops. But when I got there, I found out that was not the case. Then I did some research on the internet and found out that this area used to have a soy sauce factory.