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Wacky and weird Canadian place names

2010-04-18_09-18-22

Fancy a cross Canada tour with a stop at Crotch Lake, ON, then a visit to Dildo, Newfoundland? Be sure not to miss the former small town gem of Punkeydoodles Corners, and if you aren't already laughing, head to Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in Quebec.

Canadian publications occasionally trot out versions of the list of bizarrely named places across the country — and there is certainly no shortage of eyebrow-raising, funny and even slightly offensive options.

This weekend, Maclean's magazine published a selection of the most unique names supplied by Historica Canada, including some less well-known goofy names such as Goobies, Nfld. and a few familiar examples that, when given a second look, really are a bit confusing. Tourists passing through Moose Jaw, Sask., for example, might be puzzled to understand why the jaws of large, antlered mammals were important enough to become the namesake for a prairie town.

[ Related: Dildo promotion needed, B&B owner says ]

However, it is a particular kind of buffalo that led to the naming of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alta., which also appears on the Maclean's list: the dead kind. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is named because for thousands of years, aboriginal hunters on the Plains would drive buffalo to stampede over the cliff.

Farther East, Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, near Lake Témiscouata, has a name that's more difficult to parse, with origins in the archaic French word "haha," referring to an obstacle or a dead end. Early French explorers who encountered the lake, and likely had to travel around it, might not have found it so funny.

Past lists, such as this Reader's Digest slideshow, have pinpointed a few of the more blush-inducing Canadian towns, such as Shag Harbour, NS, and the oft-mentioned Dildo, Nfld, whose name from the 1700s has unknown origins, though it could refer to a pin in a rowboat or a shrub, according to Reader's Digest. What did you think it meant?

If your tour of strangely named Canadian locales still isn't complete after visiting these examples, perhaps during the journey you'll arrive, by chance, in Come By Chance, Nfld.