Geographically negative places

[Deleted]

I have lived in France for my entire adult life (having arrived here permanently at age 20) and there is an expression that I noticed over the years which evolves as time goes by. It is the mention of a place that is considered to be terrible when wanting to say "the situation is/was chaotic/dangerous/completely unpleasant." When I arrived in France, when you wanted to say that you had found yourself in a dangerous place or terrible situation, the expression was "It's Chicago." It's the sort of thing you say when you went to a party and a big fight broke out and the police were called. This one must have lasted for a very long time since it basically dated back to the days of Al Capone. Then it shifted to "It's the Bronx" after all sorts of reports of the situation there. (We are in the 1970's here.) Later it became "It's Beirut." In recent years it has become "It's Baghdad."

Then there are the negative mentions of other places. I think a lot of us were told as children that we had to eat things because the children in China were starving. Maybe some people were told that Africa was the place.

Recently Jeb Bush said in a debate something along the lines of "at least we don't have the French work week." He later apologised after somebody on his staff did some research and discovered that the French work more than the Germans, who have a good reputation.

So I am wondering what the "negative" places are for people in other parts of the world.

[questa]

"It's the arsehole of the world" (Sorry but 'ass-hole' isn't strong enough)

[bixaorellana]

Well, in the US, for sneering at rural or isolated places you have:

the boondocks (aka the boonies)
the back of the beyond
hell's half acre
Podunk
East Jesus
the sticks
I'm sure there are more in that vein.

As far as something similar to what you cite in the OP, the only thing I can think of for describing a situation out of control would be "all hell broke loose". And for using a place name in a negative sense, there is "the black hole of Calcutta" for someplace horrible and filthy -- a scary slum, for instance.

[questa]

A one horse town, blink-and-yer-missed-it, lying in the dust like a dead lizard. Just a fly spot on a map, where the crows fly backwards to keep the dust outta their eyes.

[bixaorellana]

Or, as my grandfather said about his home town: "It's the place God would give Mississippi an enema."

I never heard the lizard one or the crow one before. Somehow, the lizard expression seems particularly Australian.

[questa]

When lizards drink they flatten their bodies to the earth...hence the expression when someone is going very fast..."He's going flat out like a lizard drinking"
Even our similes are puns.

[Deleted]

Well, the British have Bedlam, which was even picked up by other English speaking countries.

Also, when I was young, Okies (people from Oklahoma) did not have a good reputation, as they were considered to be domestic refugees who made any place they settled worse.

[Deleted]

The concept of the Valley girl, just came to mind -- someone from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Not terribly flattering either.

As for the American city with the worst reputation, it is apparently Detroit and I can certainly imagine people saying "it looked like Detroit." There are even much maligned entire states, such as New Jersey or West Virginia.

[Deleted]

In France there are a number of fictitious town names to signify the middle of nowhere. That's where someone has been in France if they say they were in Pétaouchnok or Trifouillis-les-Oies. I find it amazing that these names get passed down from generation to generation, since they are not even a literary reference.

[lagatta]

"Limoger" someone, usually a functionary, is a much older one in France (and has spread to other Francophone countries). Nowadays it means not only sending someone into a "backwater" post in disgrace but also simply dimissing them.

Remote towns and hamlets, and their natural settings are referred to as "the bush" in Canadian English, and there seems to be a similar meaning in Australia and New Zealand English, despite the great differences in climates and terrains.

I know that "bush" can have a similar meaning in US English ("bush league"), but wouldn't our neighbours to the south also speak of "the sticks" in this sense?

The island province of Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders are the butt of jokes in Canada (even in Québec) and the town of Drummondville is also a butt of jokes here in Québec. Detroit is directly on the Canadian border, so it is derided in Canada as well, as a place of depression, loss of industry, violence and general urban dysfunction. In the mid-20th century, on the other hand, Detroit was seen as a place of great opportunity for poor Southerners: the "Great Migration" of African-Americans, but also for many "poor whites".

[patricklondon]

We have "sending someone to Coventry" to mean giving them the silent treatment, sometimes as an organised campaign to force someone unwanted out of a social group (I think it originated from the treatment of royalists after the English Civil War).

There's a great expression for the big empty wilderness (I think it's one of those colourful Australianisms) - MAMBA country (i.e., Miles And Miles of B... All), which can be used of really boring places.

A number of places are associated with assumptions about the people who live there, e.g., people who write Why-Oh-Why letters to the papers about falling standards and misbehaviour are often collectively referred to as "Disgusted, of Tunbridge Wells", or there's the famous acronymn said to appear in medical records - NFN (= "Normal for Norfolk", i.e., somewhat less than sparkling intellectually).

And you do hear made-up names designed to suggest tiny villages in the middle of nowhere - "Little Piddling on the Wold" and such like. Private Eye magazine would often have pompous spoof letters from Sir Herbert Gusset, of Loose Chippings, Glos.

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[onlyMark]

Being on Carey Street meaning you owe a lot of money.
Having more front than Blackpool (I think Brighton is used as well?) meaning you are full of yourself.
If you die you meet your Waterloo.
When something goes down the Swannie(sp?) it's lost forever.
I don't know how/where taking coals to Newcastle started but I've always used to it describe something futile.

[Deleted]

I've always known "taking coals to Newcastle" as doing something redundant and unnecessary, i.e. Newcastle was a coal mining centre, so why would you take coal there? Hence, taking cheese to France or beer to Bavaria.

I've toured plays across Canada, to some very obscure centres. I've performed in Bumf**ck, B.C. many, many times.

[whatagain]

Well, like Questa, we say 'au milieu du trou de balle de nulle part...' We don't have 'Triffouillis les oies' that I like a lot but we do have Petaouchnok and also 'Outsiplou les bains de pieds'.

As for negative places, Charleroi would come on top, albeit the rest of the world speak now of the 'Molenbeek' of their country.
Being born in Charleroi, I would single out parts of the city, like 'Marchienne au Pont' but I'm splitting hairs here...

[rikita]

as for geographic locations, in german "walachei" (walachia) is used for "in the middle of nowhere" or similar ... a lot of germans are surprised when told that this is a real place (and that i've been there) ... and when you don't understand something, then it might seem spanish to you (das kommt mir spanisch vor). or the thing you don't know anything about is bohemian villages for you (das sind böhmische dörfer für mich).

as for places without using a geographic name - "wo der pfeffer wächst" (there, where the pepper is growing) means very far away, usually you wish that someone might go there. "am arsch der welt" (near the arse of the world) is also used, "jwd" is used as abbreviation for "janz weit draußen" which is berlin-ish for "ganz weit draußen" which means "very far outside of town".

[patricklondon]

A rather obscure and perhaps not that negative reference in England is "Once every Preston Guild" (a local ceremonial that occurred every twenty years or so, so metaphorically, "once in a blue moon", or even "when hell freezes over")

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[rikita]

that's not really a place then, though, but an event - so a reference to time, right?

[Deleted]

The day of Saint Glin-Glin is used in France to refer to a date that will never happen, for example when you will get a raise or win the lottery.