Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

We've all felt the pain of mispronouncing the name of a town in front of a local who just has to correct you, but when it comes to a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, everyone is willing to give you a pass for butchering it. After all, there's 45 letters in the name.

Affectionately known as "Lake Webster" to locals who gave up on trying to pronounce the name a long time ago, Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is considered to have the longest name in the United States, and one of the longest in the whole world. Originally the name was something a bit shorter, Chabanaguncamogue, which translates to "Fishing Place at the Boundary". Of course, white dudes came along and completely screwed everything up.

As white settlers began to reach the area, the native tribes began to refer to the lake by a new name, Chargoggaggoggmanchoggagogg, which means "Englishmen at Manchaug". After a bunch of confusion between different map makers, someone decided to just jam the two names together to form Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, or "Englishmen at Manchaug at the Fishing Place at the Boundary". Problem solving at its finest.

Unfortunately, the name is now so hard to say that no one can seem to spell it correctly, including sign makers.

Via The New York Times:

"Jane Hill, vice president of the Webster Lake Association, a recently formed group of some 400 lake homeowners, rankled some folks by spelling the C-word on the club's logo, T-shirts and jackets with 49 letters - instead of 45.

'I've tried a few different spellings and every time, someone tells me I spell it wrong,' Ms. Hill said. 'So now I just have the official Jane Hill spelling.'"

Even today, numerous signs pointing to the lake contain spelling errors, but as you might imagine, no one really wastes any time trying to correct them when only the most anal of grammar nazis will notice.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is more than just a place to snag a hilarious town t-shirt. With excellent boating opportunities and clean waters to swim in, the lake offers tourists a great place for summer fun. The swamps around the lake also make for a wonderful place to experience some of Massachussettes' diverse nature, particularly along the Walkabout Trail.

It was hard to find a spot for the photo op. Here are directions I found on Roadside America:

I-395 exit 2. Drive west on Hwy 16/E. Main St. Turn right at the first stoplight (big brick building on right) onto Hwy 12/Worcester Rd. Drive north a half-mile, then make a U-turn. You'll see the Welcome sign, which faces north, on the southbound side of Hwy 12/Worcester Rd. BONUS: A shopping plaza with the impossible name is at 170 Gore Rd. From I-395 exit 2 drive east (instead of west as above) on Hwy 16/Gore Rd. In a little over a mile, you'll see the shopping plaza on the right.