River River

I always wanted to be a fly on the wall when they named the colony (later state) of Virginia.

"We should name this place after Queen Elizabeth."
\ "Excellent idea, Elizabethia it is!"
\ "No, no. Virginia. 'Cause she's never... you know. Wink wink, nudge nudge."

I sometimes wonder why that isnt just "New Wales". Is there something so distinct about the south of Wales that makes it be seen as something distinct to name something after?

Pffft, he was plagued with self doubt compared to Cecil Rhodes who went to Africa and said "this place is called Rhodesia now."

Relevant Mitchell and Webb

Australia is also just called South. And apparently someone proposed the name Borealia (North) for Canada.

Well I mean randy feltface had a good bit on naming in Australia https://youtube.com/shorts/rvDzyPUBJUU

Not sure I’d buy a house in stabbyville

Lake disappointment (contains no water)

I don't know, that sounds like a pretty accurate name for a lake without water

• Shark bay
• Great Sandy Desert
• Little Sandy Desert
• Snowy Mountains

Lol these sound like Super Mario Bros levels

Lake disappointment (contains no water)

Well, that would be very disappointing if your lake had no water. So I think they nailed that one.

Didn't you cunts also name a swimming pool after your prime minister who died swimming in the ocean?

What's wrong with Shark Bay? I'd name every second bay I find, Shark Bay.

The Powerpuff Girls happened in Australia‽‽

Tbf the blue mountains are blue from the right distance in the right weather, like most temperate Australian mountains

Here is a Tom Scott video about it:

https://youtu.be/NUyXiiIGDTo
\ https://invidious.f5.si/watch?v=NUyXiiIGDTo

I believe there's also a Haversham Hill, which is also a hill hill hill hill

Sometimes name it after a person, or some shit that went down there, especially if its not someplace important. Like its not the nightmare town, there's nothing particular about it. So it's susanstown, and attempts to discover local lore would find stories about the ancient founder that have been embellished over the years.

My friends don't know anything about my hometown, so I just name everything after old street names or old parts of town.

• Cabbageford
• Countsclearing
• Blackstakes
• Turnpike
• Holyspring
• Stepsstream
• Canyard
• Cattlestream Valley
• On The Height
• Cottageville
• Stalkpond
• Firecreek
• Meadowsmill
• Sticks
• Bogbrook
• Bogbridge
• Kingsroad
• Goldenworth

It feels incredibly realistic, because it is.

Sounds like you are describing Palpatine's dick.

From the Wikipedia page:

A. D. Mills in his Dictionary of English Place-Names interprets the name as "Ridge of the hill with a rocky peak", giving its etymology as Old English torr, Celtic *penn, and Old English hoh, each of which mean 'hill'. Thus, the name Torpenhow Hill could be interpreted as 'hill-hill-hill Hill'.

I think it's a hill?

Guys I think that place might be on some elevated terrain

Unfortunately, Tom Scott has already debunked this

It’s kind of true. The last hill seems to be a modern invention, and Torpenhow Hill isn’t listed on any maps. There is a village there called Torpenhow, though, and that is Hillhillhill

It was called "Earth" because we needed to distinguish it from Sky and Water, which were totally different things.

I lived for a bit in a place that meant "Big nose".

Beijing is "northern capital", Tokyo is "eastern capital", and Kyoto is "capital capital".

That's nobody's business but the Turks.

The Nullarbor plain sounds like an Aboriginal word, but it's just Latin and means "No trees" because there are no trees on it.

Schenectady is "the place beyond the pines" because there was a big old pine barren between it and the next settlement over.

There are 88 towns named "Washington".

Honestly surprised it's that low

Lots of Bismark and Moscow about too.

that's not fun, that's horrifying

However, this is likely apocryphal, since it was popularized in the 1940s, almost 50 years after the town was founded. The most likely origin is from nearby Chicken Creek, as noted by Josiah Edward Spurr in 1896, “The creek is so named from the size of the gold, which is about that of chicken feed (corn).”

New Town (2)

Why they changed it ...?

Also they named Turku just Åbo.

Åbo.

Swedish "å" is an entire word meaning;

 undefined

        a river, a creek, a big stream


  

"Bo"

bo n

 undefined

        **a dwelling** (of an animal), especially a bird's nest

        fågelbo

            bird’s nest

        att bygga bo

            to build a nest / to nest ("build nest" – idiomatic phrasing)

    (poetic, extended from sense 1) **a home**

    sätta bo

        settle down



  

So it's a three letter word basically saying river-dwelling

I think rather than ask Finns what a place was named they just named them themselves. Perhaps because they were tired of the locals calling everything shit and piss. ¯(ツ)/¯

Well that clears things up.

ye classic times

The letter you're using y to stand in for is available on computers and phones: þ (thorn). It makes the same sound as "th" in "that". The other letter "th" replaced was ð (eth) which makes the sound "th" in "something"