Unusual Place Names

[richlevy]

This weekend I drove past a new development of upscale houses ($800K+). That wasn't really unusual. What was unusual was the name of the development.

Announcing Slitting Mill, an enclave of four new homes nestled on generously sized 1 ½+ acre level homes sites in prestigious Edgmont Township, Delaware Co.

Slitting Mill? Does anyone do any kind of focus group testing. I mean, a lot rich people probably aren't afraid to get a little blood on their hands, but isn't this going a bit far?

I know in the U.K. there are some place names that reflect a bloody past, and even in the New England area of the U.S. you can find places like the Gibbet Hill Grill, but you would think that if there was an actual choice available, the developer would pick a different feature to highlight.

To be fair, the slitting that is referred to is a manufacturing term. Still, to me the name sounds like the title for a horror movie.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's probably on Slitting Mill Road.

Slitting Mills were real important for making nails, so there were a lot of them, until nail making got more refined.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by richlevy

This weekend I drove past a new development of upscale houses ($800K+). That wasn't really unusual. What was unusual was the name of the development.

Slitting Mill? Does anyone do any kind of focus group testing. I mean, a lot rich people probably aren't afraid to get a little blood on their hands, but isn't this going a bit far?

I know in the U.K. there are some place names that reflect a bloody past, and even in the New England area of the U.S. you can find places like the Gibbet Hill Grill, but you would think that if there was an actual choice available, the developer would pick a different feature to highlight.

To be fair, the slitting that is referred to is a manufacturing term. Still, to me the name sounds like the title for a horror movie.

There's a hamlet by the name of Slitting Mill, in Staffordshire, England. It isn't a name/term I've ever encountered in any context but the Slitting Mill website sheds a little light on the name.

Slitting Mill Village

Slitting Mill is a hamlet of fewer than 400 people, about one and a quarter miles west of Rugeley on the very edge of Cannock Chase. The village has also been known as Rolling Mill, and Stonehouse.
The name of Slitting Mill is derived from the type of work carried out along the stream where mills would split (slit) wood and metal.

[glatt]

When I was a lad, I lived in the village of Merzhausen in Germany. Merzhausen and something like five other little villages were all nestled in this beautiful storybook valley on the edge of the Black Forest. The name of the valley? Hexental. (Witches' Valley.)

I wish I knew the story behind that name. It gets the imagination going. I mean, come on. Black Forest? Witches? Maybe the real Hansel and Gretel lived there?

The wikipedia article I linked to above says the name is derived from "Hagstal" or Hag valley. And Hag is a sort of protected clearing surrounded by brush or woods or even fences. So maybe it's a boring explanation, except the translated entry for "Hag" says:

The Hag also offered cemeteries protection from evil spirits, especially if it consists of yew or boxwood existed. Also, both in Central Europe, as well as Nordic and English sagas surprising passages in hedges as a transition into a fairyland or the underworld to find. So also derived Witch (OHG hecse, English:. hag, also mnl. Hagetisse), from the same root word from. As an alternative designation is found Fence Rider / in.

[xoxoxoBruce]

So hag is like a secret garden.

[limey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

So hag is like a secret garden.

[snigger] He said "hag is"!


Sent by thought transference

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by limey

[snigger] He said "hag is"!

HAGGIS!

[Gravdigr]

In the next county over is Eighty-eight, KY. There is a country store on the way that is called the Forty-four Country Market. Because it's halfway to Eighty-eight, get it?