Have you ever heard of the film director Duncan Jones? He’s known for the movies Moon and Source Code. He’s also known for having a birth name that’s a little more flamboyant than Duncan Jones. You see, Duncan’s dad was David Bowie and he named his son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. For a long time people just called him Zowie Bowie.
Names mean a lot, and while we have little control over what our parents name us—Bill Lear cruelly named one of his daughters Crystal Shanda—we do have control over where we live. Our home address speaks a lot about us, and having to address correspondence to potential employers, future in-laws, or your probation officer from someplace on Penis Street or at the corner of Inyo and Butte can perhaps reflect poorly on your prospects.
The question for today is whether or not your street name is important to you. Would you turn down a domicile if it was on a street with a stupid name?
Image: Funny Signs
Hooniverse Asks: Would You Not Live on a Street With a Stupid Name?
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Nope, wouldn’t bother me. But my real last name sounds like a villainous alien from a sci-fi movie and I live in a town with an apostrophe in its name, so I’ve been largely desensitized.
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Closer to this…
http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8now4QgV21qabfx1o1_500.gif
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Well, it’s his summit, after all — why shouldn’t it be possessive??
Edit: after looking at the Wiki entry, I’d say the bigger problem is that the founder’s name ain’t even spelt krekt.-
It plays hell with automated address verifiers — some want it, some don’t. The Jackson County Assessor’s office comes to mind. Some years their website requires it, some years it doesn’t.
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The sign on my street says “St Louis Ave”. Sometimes that works for verifiers, some want “Saint Louis” and others want “St. Louis” It usually doesn’t matter, except when I try to remember which version was used for security questions.
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I actually live on the good doctor’s former property.
True story.
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Someone involved in the development or founding of the city of Lake Jackson, Texas thought it would be really cute to name streets “This Way”, “That Way”, “Which Way”, etc. It always struck me as pointlessly corny, but it became a stroke of brilliance when the “what’s your adult film star name?” meme/phishing scam came about when I was in college whereby you used your middle name and the street your grew up on. One of my female friends from Lake Jackson lived on Anyway St..
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I don’t know. Third base.
http://www.ramsheadgroup.com/files/2013/04/abbott-and-costello-whos-on-first.jpg
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Nah, gotta live somewhere. ‘Stupid Name Avenue’ is sure a lot better than ‘Walmart parking lot’ or ‘alley behind liquor store’
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I prefer the nuance of the alley behind the Walmart.
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Not necessarily. The mailman doesn’t deliver to The Van Down by the River = no bills!
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How about on a street actually named “Liquor Store Alley”?
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I couldn’t live on Goldenrain Tree Street.
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What about just “Golden Rain Road”?
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This is hilarious. Also: Very strange traffic light construction. Wouldn’t the tallest vehicles have a tendency to use the rightmost lane?
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It’s the entrance to a retirement community near where my sister lives.
I think even the rightmost lane (lowest lights) are above the height limit for trucks.-
Holy macaroni, six lanes to a retirement community? There are no six lane roads within a full day’s travel from where I live…
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Six lanes going in but only one lane out.
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Toronto has an Old Cummer Ave, and I couldn’t live on that, but mostly because it’s in a really dull section of the city.
In case you were as interested as I was in the street sign above:
http://hypervocal.com/news/2012/katies-crotch-road-remains-katies-crotch-road/
Nobody really knows how Katies Crotch Road got its magnificent name.
A 78-year-old town resident, who moonlights as secretary and treasurer of the New Portland Historical Society, says even she doesn’t know, and the origin of the name pre-dates street signs in the area.
One story, according to the Morning Sentinel, has it that “a family with the last name Katie used to live at the intersection with Route 16, and ‘crotch’ referred to the V shape of the intersection.” Another says “there used to be a tavern on the road run by a woman named Katie.” But the best tall tale is this one: “A woman named Katie used to live on the road and would sit on her porch while wearing no underwear.” Please, for the love of all that is holy, let that be the origin of the street’s name.
The street sign for Katies Crotch Road — just off Route 16, which connects Embden and New Portland, Maine — has been stolen and vandalized so many times that town elders took a vote last Saturday to determine whether or not it was a good idea to change the name of the street.
And even though officials say it cost them $200 (not including labor!) to replace the sign time and time again, they decided against the change. Smart move.
Two-hundred bucks is a small price to pay for such a rich, mysterious history.
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Entirely off topic, but perhaps of interest: The famous “Kate’s Cottage” on the Isle of Man was not named for a woman named Kate, but is a corruption of the original family name, Tate. Also, you can get anything you want except an Alice at Alice’s Restaurant.
http://www.alicesrestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/unnamed2-resized.jpg
Around me there is a Harms Way and in another area close by Boogers Hill Road.
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I wonder how many people have moved out of Harms Way?
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I wonder how many people have camped out on Katies Crotch.
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Or at least stuck their face in it.
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Quite the opposite: How easy is it to remember a strange name, compared to whatever common address people might have? I was involved in the naming of earlier unaddressed villages and streets where I live, and our house sort of, cough, accidentally ended up with a very easily remembered number:
Some of the big planned unit developments in Florida reach pretty far for street names, like using animal names. For example, Wombat Way, Yak Court, and – you know this was coming – Kangaroo Court.
I would. In a heartbeat. Mostly because it is something my ex would not have allowed.
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Obligatory New Jersey reference to Shades of Death Road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_Of_Death_Road
I live on a street that’s “of the sea” in Spanish, but smashed together into one word.
This is in Kansas, mind. Wishful thinking, I reckon. I grew up on a street named for the first person to own property on it, even though my parents bought a plot and built a house before that owner, they didn’t get naming rights. And it was miscategorized, at that, as it didn’t complete any sort of loop, and was therefore not a circle. At least it was easy to spell, so I didn’t grow up having to spell my last name AND my street name to everyone who asked.
I wouldn’t live on this road, but only because it’s a major street.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3433/3202672494_6d442eaa39_b.jpg
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Avoiding high traffic beavers is always a sound strategy.
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Is there a liquor store there?
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Plus it looks pretty slick.
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You’d probably like this street then:
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I need this! The city still won’t approve my permit application for a moat.
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Don’t call it a moat, call it a “water feature” with “wildlife” http://greece.greekreporter.com/files/crocodile_Greece.jpg
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According to wiki:
A La Vergne, Tennessee subdivision contains streets named Smalls, Tuffnel, and St. Hubbins Drive.
Eh- the google map link didn’t work.
It’s there though.
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At house #11.
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Charity Street in Los Angeles was renamed to Grand Avenue. Apparently the residents were fed up with being accused of “living on Charity”.
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Nobody wants to live on Drummer Road.
I pass this sign on the way to my sister-in-law’s ranch. I now have a strong inclination to write a novel featuring a young, female detective named Aubry Stilwell.
We’ve got a Prince Albert Street here. I will not live on a street named after a piercing.
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Street? Try an entire city. According to my brother who once lived there, Prince Albert is a hole.
http://www.saskweddings.com/images/princealbert.jpg-
It also gave us Diefenbaker, so it has a lot to apologize for.
Although, I’ve been there and it’s pretty unassuming (maybe it’s for the best I didn’t actually get out of the car downtown though).
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I can’t really talk, I live on Laughing Lane.
I’m not sure whether a silly or stupid street name would be a dealbreaker for a place to live (depends on specifics, I guess), but I will say that I once took probably more interest than I should have in a house for sale, largely because it sounded like it would be really fun to say I lived on Rue Le Mans. …in San Jose, but still.
Absolutely
Having to spell it every single time you give it to someone is worse, over time.
Bought our first Colorado mountain house on Dick Mountain Road (might have been Drive), the snickers didn’t register after the first year.
After this, lived in Oregon, and my PO box was in Tualatin.
Too-ah-la-tin. Not all that difficult, but unusual. Making things more interesting, the street name was Martinazzi. We’ve been selective about street/town names ever since, at least to a small degree.
Though…then you find the ones you’d never expect to be difficult.
Slippery Rock Drive
“Is that one word?”
No, actually it’s three, but I understand your question, so, two.
/facepalm
Used to live on Maple Street. That was easy. Heather Lane was another simple one…
My street is named after a peak in a nearby mountain range. I’d say it’s a strong name. But I didn’t care about that when moving here! It would be one of my lowest priorities when choosing a place to live.
http://images.summitpost.org/original/226585.jpg
I’d park my Probe on that street. As to the question after about 2 minutes of thought on the subject, yes I would. It would be a good test on someone’s sense of humor and wether or not I would continue to even bother with them.
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