Twitter users offer #FakeMAtown suggestions

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

From Braintree to Belchertown, Massachusetts has its share of oddly named cities and towns, but today a blogger's suggestion of several more unusual and funny town names became an instant internet sensation.

There’s Hamham, Leominsterlingburghamshireton, or Unstable, pronounced of course as (/unst’-a-bull/), suggests Globe assistant Arts editor Michael A. Brodeur in a post titled “Fake Massachusetts Towns” on Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency website Thursday.

Brodeur’s list poking fun at the state, the pronunciation of its cities and towns, and the number of city and town names ending in -ham (sometimes pronounced -um) and mouth (sometimes pronounced -mith) caused a stir on Twitter as users thought of how silly sounding some of their hometowns are while others embraced their city's names:

@stampedinblind: Aww, this #fakeMAtowns #fakeMAtown thing is making me homesick. Does Worcester count? No one knows how to pronounce it so it's barely real.”
 
@jukebox65: Yes Hamham is delicious. It's a sister city of England's Mustard-upon-Hamahamton I'm sure.#FakeMATowns

@katzish: Fake Massachusetts Towns, by @MBrodeur. I swear I've dated people from all of these, incl Shamesbury.”

By mid-afternoon #FakeMAtown was trending in the Boston area as more and more Twitter users concocted their own town names, such as Foxyboro or Chickpeas, to make a few digs at mispronunciations, towns’ reputations, and some uniquely New England phrases using the hashtag #FakeMATown.

Here are just a few of the proposed town names:
 
@JimCorreale: Asphaltium (Rte 1 from Revere to Peabody) #FakeMATown
 
@improvana: Bubblaham - the town where the water fountain was invented #FakeMATown

@DaniCaps: #FakeMAtown Wickedborough

@danteramos: Paddleboro, but also North Paddleborough.#FakeMATown”

@ScottMcLennan1: Drove from Dullboro to Nolawrence. #FakeMATown

@TANNERdaBOSS: #FakeMAtown Marketbasketham

@Dankennedy_nu offered a few, including: Danvers-by-the-Mall, Naugahyde and Patchawickedlocalyourtownia, along with “Warchester, well-loved by all new local news anchors. Even more popular than Glowchester.”

Likely inspired by the one if not two, three or four Dunkin’ Donuts in every town @thesnobdotcom suggested “Dunkinton.”

Local politicians also offered their own suggestions. Boston City Councilor Matt O’Malley and State Auditor Suzanne Bump joined in with:

@MattOMalley:@MBrodeur @dbernstein Northie #fakematown #fakebostonneighborhoods

@MassAuditor: Overandover #fakeMAtown

And the list goes on. We're sure there are plenty more #fakeMAtown suggestions. What are yours?

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Twitter:@JohannaKaiser
E-mail: johanna.yourtown@gmail.com