There's a Canadian town with two exclamation points in its name...and no one knows why that is.

Entering a chuckle hut of a town.

Just over the northern border of the state of Maine in a remote agricultural belt of Quebec, Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! quietly sits when it isn't having a good chuckle at itself. And it's the only known geographical spot in the world that has not one, but two exclamation points in its name.

Founded in 1860 as a Roman Catholic mission, it took until 1874 before a name was created. How it was created, by whom, or what it means, well, that's another matter. There is no official record, just a date. The town's own website offers casual references to tired--and apparently easily amused--explorers who came upon nearby Lake Témiscouata and said, "Ah! Ah! Here is the lake!" Excitable people, those early explorers.

Other theories suggest the indigenous language is the root, specifically the Wyandot tribe's native Northern Iroquoian word "ahaha," meaning "path." A path to remote regions of nowhere? Sure.

Even the Canadian postal service laughs.

Alas, the Quebec provincial government's Commission de toponymie du Québec, which creates geographical names, firmly disagrees with a good laugh or a good path, stating:

"[W]e must not believe these fanciful interpretations. In reality, the haha, in French, is an archaism that identifies a dead end...an impasse, an unexpected obstacle."

Well, "haha" might be a French archaism, but the Commission doesn't actually have any proof of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! utilizing a French archaism. Indeed, the Commission's own site encourages and emphasizes rooting geographical names in French. That generally negates the indigenous Wyandot having any influence or anyone enjoying a giggle fit or offering geographical names.

The Commission posits that Lake Témiscouata--which is 5 miles away from Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, by the way--caused 19th century explorers to believe they encountered a "haha" (an unexpected obstacle) that was too difficult to get around with canoes. At 28 miles, Lake Témiscouata is fairly long, but only 3 miles wide. Sure, humans crossed the Great Lakes and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by then, but the Quebec government suggests, ehhh, Lake Témiscouata was simply a no-go and settlers didn't ponder canoeing. Considering Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!'s town motto is "Solidaire dans le labeur" (Solidarity in the work), it seems everyone felt solidarity in not working to get across the lake.

Yet, no one--not the Commission de toponymie du Québec, not historians, nor the town of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! itself--has any idea where those very curious exclamation points come from. They just exist. They just do.

As for the "Saint Louis" part? Don't get your hopes up. It's probably named after one of three 19th century locals named Louis, but--you guessed it--no one knows with any certainty which Louis either.



photo:  RICLAF/CA by SA.20