What's in a name?

Names can be funny things. Used to give a proper identification to all the special nouns in our lives, names can inspire the good and bad emotions of people depending on how we associate the terms with our personal lives.

Just for a start: I've climbed the peaks of each of the seven hills of Rome, toured the historic centers of education in Athens, investigated the warrior culture in Sparta, searched for a pot of gold in Dublin, heard the music in Vienna, sampled the sausages of Bremen and just missed a soccer game in Manchester.

All without ever leaving Georgia.

Some of these names have origins that are sort of obvious. Throughout the South you'll find the names of the great cities of antiquity, especially places named in the Scriptures. There are associations with such places that Southerners wished to celebrate and, on some level, emulate.

But names also play another role - helping us identify foreigners:

If you go to South Georgia and you pronounce "Cairo" they way they do on CNN, you have blown your cover. The word is "Kayro".

There are two kinds of people that pronounce "Bowdon" with a long first O - Yankees and the new guy on the six o'clock Atlanta news.

Albany is in New York, "all-BANNY" is down yonder past Cordele (cor-DEAL).

LaFayette was the great Frenchman that came to America's aid. We thanked him by naming a town "luh-FET" in his honor.

For security purposes, I cannot disclose more than that.

But I can mention some places with names even I don't understand. Places like The Rock, Smarr, Ludowici, Unadilla and, of course, Enigma.

And then there's Warwoman Dell...be afraid. Be very afraid.

But lest you believe oddball names are unique to Georgia:

There is a place in South Alabama called Smut Eye. I've seen some local folklore that suggests women using this term to scold their husbands for sitting at the blacksmith's shop & drinking beer. Supposedly they came home with the smut from the forge all over their faces and the ladies knew where they had been. The name stuck, or so says the legend. But who knows where the name really came from?

When I was an adolescent, long before my enlightenment of the French language and cultural background of the Gulf Coast, we visited Gautier, MS. I didn't think it was any gautier than the next town. But, than again, you never know.

I spent two nights in Sulphur, LA. There's a name to really summon good feelings. Made me wonder if the rival high school might be down the road in Methane.

And Florida isn't off the hook because I've been to Interlachen, Lochloosa and Blitchton - and if you aren't careful with those, you might get your mouth washed out with soap.

While I do know that such names are not unique to the South, they ingrained in our maps and on our landscape. A little stretch off the beaten path and you might find yourself in one of these places. Might not be a skyscraper or a water park there but you might have found an excellent conversation piece.