I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' by [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] also has a variety of locations which can be translated variously as the Grinding Ice, the Gasping Dust, the [[Atop a Mountain of Corpses|Hill of Slain]], the [[Eldritch Location|Mountains of Horror]], and the [[Garden of Evil|Valley of Dreadful Death]].

* ''Shadowmarch'' from the eponymous novel by [[Tad Williams]].

** Nanny Ogg has a set of rules about places like Dontgonearthe Castle, which are basically a series of instructions that go "having ignored the previous instruction, don't perform the next step in your inevitable demise," up until you've met your inevitable demise, when it's "having been bitten by the vampire, don't come crying to me."

* The Blasted Heath from the [[The Colour Out of Space]] by HP Lovecraft.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Though Sunnydale doesn't count, the name it originally had does: Boca del Infierno or the Mouth of Hell. The ''Tales of the Slayers'' comic "The Glittering World" shows that Mayor Wilkins renamed it purposefully (also considering "Sunny Valley" and "Happydale").

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the scenic and picturesque ''Death Zone'' on Gallifrey.

* The challenge one week on ''[[The Gruen Transfer]]'' was to come up with an ad to promote tourism to the Canadian town of Asbestos.

* ''[[Wild Boys]]'': "What part of 'Dead Man's Drop' do you not understand?"

* ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]:''

'''[[Sixth Ranger|Daggeron]]''': With a name like ''that'', how could I stay away? }}

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** A lot of modules, such as the old good ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]''

** Many place-names in [[Ravenloft]] are this trope as well, albeit sometimes camoflauged via [[Bilingual Bonus]].

*** The ludicrousness of these names was parodied by a [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/03/20 certain] ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' strip which posited that beneath the Shadowdark is the "Darkbad"—and past that, one encounters "Shadow Shadow Bo Badow," "Double Hell," and finally "Scarytown". {{spoiler|Which isn't so bad, depending on when you go.}}

* Most names cribbed from ''[[The Divine Comedy|Inferno]]'' probably count (they're used in ''[[Planescape]]'' a lot). Dis, Malebolge, etc. Carceri and The Abyss probably counts as well, and did I mention the lovely town of Ribcage?

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' has Death Mountain, Troll Country, Blackfire Pass, the Forest of Shadows, the Blighted Isle, the Badlands, the Spiteful Peaks and many more. [[Captain Obvious|None of which are good places to be]]. Some regions, such as Naggaroth, land of the [[Our Elves Are Better|dark elves]], are ''full'' of places like this.

** Another planet was named "Murder". As expected, the environment and wildlife devastated the expedition forces.

** And another planet is named "Krieg" - which is German for "War".

* San Heironymo Peninsula, from ''[[Metal Gear|Portable Ops]]''. It means "Peninsula of the Dead", according to Campbell.

** This is either a nickname or an in-character [[Did Not Do the Research]] -- "San Heironymo" is simply Spanish for "Saint Jerome".

* [[Monster Town|Monstro Town]] from ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' is actually a pretty nice place.

** Rogueport in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' is a straight example though. As it's ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', this gets lampshaded relatively quickly.

** Daemonheim, or "Demon halls". The fact that it is a massive cursed dungeon with ''Occult floors'' and ''Warped floors'' doesn't help.

** The Wilderness in general. Packed with places like Graveyard of Shadows, Demonic Ruins, plus a couple of Chaos Temples.

* The protagonist of [[Homestar Runner|Peasant's Quest]] has a souvenir tee-shirt from Scalding Lake. This place is, apparently, a tourist destination for peasants.

* In the web short ''The House That Drips Blood On Alex'', the titular character played by [[Tommy Wiseau]] should have known better than to buy a house on [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"|Blood Street.]]

 

 

** Also from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

{{quote|'''Judge:''' I sentence you to a lifetime of horror on Monster Island! ''[[[GASP]]]'' Don't worry, it's just a name.

'''Guy:''' What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula! }}

** And then there's the Murderhorn, the insurmountable highest peak in Springfield.

** Hells Canyon, carved by the waters of the Snake River, lying below the Seven Devils Mountains. Tell me that's not ominous.

** Similarly, [[wikipedia:Colon, Cuba|Colón, Cuba]], which happens to be located in the province of [[wikipedia:Matanzas Province|Matanzas]], "Slaughters". However, [[wikipedia:Morón, Cuba|Morón]], also in Cuba, does mean the same thing as in English.

** Also Crouch End, a name which [[Stephen King]] found so creepy that he wrote a Lovecraftian short story with that title.

* Cherepovets, a Russian city. Its name means ''"(city) of the skulls"''. The historical reason for such a name choice is that the city was actually built on an old pagan shrine.

* Municipality of Sodankylä in Finland. The name means "war village".

* Town of Outokumpu in Finland. Literally "weird mound" - the hill glowed in the dark. {{spoiler|It was found to be one of the richest copper ore deposits in Europe.}}

* There's a nice stretch of plain that stretches all the way up to North Dakota and stretches all the way down to Louisiana and Texas, now people live in those areas but the most common weather phenomena there are ''tornados'', whirling vortexes of death that pick anything and everything up and then hurl them and woe to those who meet a flying piece of wood at around 300MPH. The name of this place? Tornado Alley. People there are hardy but I wouldn't want to live there.

* One town in South Florida was named after a natural bay found by Spanish explorers... and due to the shape of said bay, it received the rather unflattering name of Boca Raton ("mouth of a rat"). Despite its unsavory name, it's a rather high income town overall.

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[[Category:I Dont Like The Sound Of That Place]]