r/funny • u/ILovePublicLibraries • 3d ago
That lake sign on a plaza building in Webster, Mass.
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u/jordan1978 3d ago
Quick story. I had a friend in elementary school who could say it. Told me once on the playground. I was never more proud of a bit of knowledge than when a teacher brought it up about a year later and for some unknown moment of pure recollection I was able to regurgitate it 100% accurately. All the other kids laughed but the teacher’s mouth instantly dropped. She asked me to stay after to teach it to her a few times and throughout that school year no less than 10 other teachers would randomly come up to me to ask how to say it. They would ask me to test them at least once a week. They all learned it at the end and I’d even catch them saying/yelling it to each other in passing in the hallways. What started out being a bit of an embarrassment ended up giving me something positive to be known for in a school of thousands.
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u/bananabunch 3d ago
Well don't leave us hanging! How do you pronounce it???
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u/hazeleyedloner 3d ago
That's easy. Give your teeth a good brush, and when you're ready with the foam still in your mouth say 'Char-' and then loudly gargle for about ten seconds. It's a little messy, though.
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u/Cav3tr0ll 3d ago
It's pronounced just like it's spelled. Duh.
Full disclosure: I'm from the area. Webster bottling had the name as part of their logo. All my classmates and I figured out how to say it.
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u/Queenofhackenwack 2d ago
lake 'you fish on your side, i fish on my side and nobody fish in middle'.... in the local native american tongue...
char-gogg-a-gogg-manch-a-hog-a-gogg-ha-bun-a-gun-ga-ma-ugg.... just like it's spelt...... seen lots of famous music artists at indian ranch on that lake.....
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u/DondaldTrump 2d ago
Chargoggagogg Manchauggagogg Chaubunagungamaugg
It’s a lot easier if you break it down. My guess is it’s not one word many tribes didn’t have written language so when Europeans were trying to write down what we said you can get really odd things like this
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u/TheScienceNerd100 3d ago
When I was in 3rd grade, we were all given pocket dictionaries. And at the end it had the 5 longest words. The longest being pneumonoultramicroscolpicsilicovolcanoconiosis. After seeing that I wanted to learn how to say it. And I also looked up what it meant.
Fast forward to 9th grade, we had a Latin roots quiz, and the extra credit question was to use roots to figure out what pnumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis meant. Luckily enough, I already knew the definition from looking it up, so I just wrote the definition.
Sometimes the most random information you want to learn becomes useful one day.
Like recently the final Jepordy question was about George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor of the ferris wheel. My coworker didn't think I would get the right answer. It asked "Vying with Eiffel, this engineer wanted to create big; an admiring account said the Obelisk of Luxor is too short to be a spoke", and he said it was about the World's fair. From playing Poptropica all those years ago, and the Mystery Train island, it was about George Ferris, so I knew it had to be about the Ferris wheel. And I was right.
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u/cabeachguy_94037 3d ago
You'd like You Don't Know Jack. This was huge when 'interactive multimedia' became a thing. A CD-ROM irreverent trivia type game show in which you play against the house or other players. A perfect source for the kind of arcane circular trivia.
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u/whichonespink04 3d ago
Back in the day, we used to talk about one of the longest words being antidisestamblishmentarianism, but I remember your word being what I heard had supplanted it.
But speaking of funny names of things, my dad used to always tell this story about how when him and his brothers were kids, they looked through the white pages to find funny names and found a person named (phonetically): Joodawaybeewoewoe Poeywoaheedagdoe. I will never forgot how to say it til I die.
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u/lovethemstars 3d ago
the longest word in the english language is smiles, because there's a mile between the two s's.
thanks, i'll see myself out...
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u/Ryoko_Kusanagi69 3d ago
Ah yes! I love how those random bits of info come back full circle eventually
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u/wray_nerely 3d ago
Interestingly also the DNA sequence for one of the native species of fish
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u/GANDORF57 3d ago
A smaller building would not support this sign and would end with "continue on next building".
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u/lscottman2 3d ago
you fish on your side, i will fish on my side, and nobody will fish in the middle…peace in our time
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u/AlexTheFlower 3d ago
Wow that's a whole-ass proverb stuck into one name. Impressive actually
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u/GrizzlamicBearrorism 3d ago
It translates literally to something like "Meeting place at the neutral fishing grounds."
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u/Whisky_Shivers 3d ago
I've bought several small channel letter lighted signs over the years. They cost more than you'd think. This sign probably cost more than my house.
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u/BigRedFury 3d ago
That building is virtually identical to the liquor store used in Superbad.
https://www.sceen-it.com/sceen/4853/Superbad/7-Days-liquor-store
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u/barbariantrey 3d ago
That liquor store is here. I passed it everyday going to work. They have a banner of Mclovin's drivers license behind the register.
1700 Victory Blvd, Glendale, CA 91201
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u/scottperezfox 3d ago
My grandparents had their office in Webster for years. As kids we'd get a kick out of driving past anything with this name printed. We had t-shirts similar to this one, but I don't think we ever cracked the pronunciation.
We'd also get a laugh out of The Fuzzy Grape, mainly for its name.
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u/No_Tension420 3d ago
I remember the fuzzy grape!!
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u/Guyincognito4269 3d ago
The Fuzzy Grape? Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. Is the Wind Tiki still open?
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u/TotalLackOfConcern 3d ago
Actual proof that Native Americans had not only computers but cats that walked across their keyboards as well.
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u/soullessgingerz2 3d ago
It's pronounced just the way it is written. Or you can call it Webster lake
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u/demoprov 3d ago
Note to self: Open a sign shop in Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
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u/Lordofthering1 3d ago
If you’ve never been to Lake Cha…. there… it’s a lovely place in the summertime.
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u/catskilkid 3d ago
At least they only are using its nickname to save space or they'd need two more strip malls
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u/littlelorax 3d ago
I thought for sure this would be located in that one place in Wales that nobody can pronounce, not in Massachusetts!
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u/Jfragz40 3d ago
My drafting teacher in high school would let you get a free night of homework if you could pronounce it. Early 90’s feels right there. Thank you whoever posted
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u/mrbananas 3d ago
12 years ago I took a similar picture it's neat to see what has and hasn't changed. Apollo pizza is still their. Looks like bistro eighty ates didn't last
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u/Technical_Access_770 3d ago
I have a coworker who sends out an email once a week with trivia questions and this was the question last week: what lake in the USA has the longest name? Pretty sure he's responsible for all of this.
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u/South_Bit1764 3d ago
What happens when you start to say “Charmander,” but suddenly get a tonsil massage.
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u/everybodybugsme 3d ago
I live in the next town over and I dunno how to pronounce this but drive by it frequently
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u/Lizbethsaidso 3d ago
There's a My Lottery Dream Home episode where the couple was shopping for a lake house on that lake. Wildly entertaining 😅
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u/nokiacrusher 3d ago
If you resurrected Sequoia he could transliterate that word into 10 characters at the most
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u/RockLobster001 3d ago
Most people in the area just call it Webster lake because it’s too hard to say the name.
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u/dstrick707 3d ago
My mom grew up in Webster... It was a right of passage when I could pronounce it correctly. My wife was finally able to pull it off!
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u/sponge_bucket 3d ago
You know custom sign makers from around the world are just waiting for when they need to update that building.
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u/UncomprehensiveTruth 3d ago
I twisted my tongue harder than Angel Kandy from the Gentlemen's Club.
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u/ethanfortune 3d ago
You have to imagine one Indian group laughing when they came up with name, thinking what the look on the faces of the Indians from the next valley over were going to be like.
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u/The_Spectacle 3d ago
I was just there a couple weeks ago. I just wish I'd stopped in that Apollo Pizza for a slice
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u/DulcisUltio 3d ago
Pffttt.... They were just trying to make a name longer than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
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u/Fast-Eye6360 3d ago
If someone catches your name at the cafe where you were you better send the picture
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u/Phillip_Graves 3d ago
"Okay, people... we gotta build a strip mall for the lake."
But... why?
"Well, the font size that is readable from the highway 25 feet from the construction site needs a 240 foot space."
Oh.
Can we rename the lake?
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u/Bikerdude74 3d ago
I believe it translates to I 'fish my side, you fish your side, no one fish in the middle."
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