World's Beautiful Landscapes.: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Lake Chaubunagungamaug also known as Lake Webster -is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres 5.83 km². Full name of the lake - Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is the longest place-name in the US - it consists of 45 letters, 15 of which«g» and 9 - «a». The lake's name comes from Nipmuc, an Algonquian language, and is said to mean, "Fishing Place at the Boundaries -- Neutral Meeting Grounds". This is different from the humorous translation, "You fish on your side, I'll fish on my side, and nobody fish in the middle", thought to have been invented by the late Laurence J. Daly, editor of The Webster Times.

Three songs about the lake's name have been written. The first was a regional song from the 1930s. The second was recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger and released in 1954 by Decca and incorporates the tale about the lake's name according to Daly. The most recent was released in 2010 by Diane Taraz. In the 1950s, a plan to shorten the official name of the lake inspired a poem of doggerel verse which concludes:

"Touch not a g!" No impious hand

Shall wrest one from that noble name

Fifteen in all their glory stand

And ever shall the same.

For never shall that number down,

Tho Gogg and Magogg shout and thunder;

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg's renown

Shall blaze, the beacon of the town,

While nations gaze and wonder.

[First Image source Joe Schumacher]