Friday Funny: Historic, or Just Plain Lewd?

Hoare Road, East Breast, and North Piddle are actual place names that get a chuckle out of most people. But when it comes to the more "aesthetically unsuitable" names, feelings are divided.

1 minute read

January 30, 2009, 2:00 PM PST

By Judy Chang


"Several months ago, Lewes District Council in East Sussex tried to address the problem of inadvertent place-name titillation by saying that "street names which could give offense" would no longer be allowed on new roads.

"Avoid aesthetically unsuitable names," like Gaswork Road, the council decreed. Also, avoid "names capable of deliberate misinterpretation," like Hoare Road, Typple Avenue, Quare Street and Corfe Close.

(What is wrong with Corfe Close, you might ask? The guidelines mention the hypothetical residents of No. 4, with their unfortunate hypothetical address, "4 Corfe Close." To find the naughty meaning, you have to repeat the first two words rapidly many times, preferably in the presence of your fifth-grade classmates.)

The council explained that it was only following national guidelines and that it did not intend to change any existing lewd names.

Still, news of the revised policy raised an outcry."

Thursday, January 22, 2009 in The New York Times

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