What's In a Name?

Well, apparently, there’s quite a lot if you get the attention of Jimmy Kimmel.  Our last stop on the Avalon Peninsula was at a small fishing village called Dildo - and you don't have to have a big imagination to see why this name would garner some attention!  

 The last few days, we have been driving through various towns and villages and have noticed some amusing and very unique names for places.  The NL tourist website explains some of the reasons for this as follows:

James Cook was many things:  explorer, navigator, cartographer, and a captain in the British Royal Navy. Around here, he would also have been known as a hard case.  In 1763, he was appointed marine surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador and he and his assistant Michael Lane recorded coves, inlets, and points of land that may never have been mapped out before. They relished the opportunity to name them... and amuse each other. From them we gained Tickle Bay, Cuckolds Cove, and Witless Bay. Famish Gut and Pinchgut Point lay at locations where rations ran low.  Blow Me Down was named after they sailed through sea squalls. And a hand injury led to the naming of Unfortunate Point. And while these monikers might all be choice gems, they haven't got a patch on a small outport in Trinity Bay. There certainly is no place like Dildo.  But what about the name? Its first historically documented use, then Dildoe Island, was in 1711, but its origins remain shrouded in mystery. Talk to any of the 1,500 locals and you'll get nearly a different answer every time. Lionel Rodrigues of the Dildo Brewing Company believes it comes from the French word for the Island, ile d'eau, owing to its freshwater springs. Local artist Clifford George maintains Dildo is the adaptation of the Spanish word for the bottom of a boat, as the town is likewise located at the bottom of the bay. Of course Clifford also maintains, with a wink in his eye, "I tell stories and I make up stories."

A couple of years ago, the town gained international attention when Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night American comedian and talk show host, found out that Dildo's annual celebration called Dildo Days had been cancelled.  He decided he wanted to do something about that.  Following a lot of publicity and repeated references to the town on his show, one thing led to another and Jimmy deciding he wanted to become its mayor.

So, Jimmy sent his sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, to the town to campaign for him. "Today we have to campaign for Jimmy so he can be the mayor of Dildo.  And tomorrow, hopefully maybe we can go fishing," Rodriguez said when interviewed there in August, 2019. He'd brought with him boxes of campaign signs for people to put in their windows.  Jimmy was eventually named its honourary mayor later that month.  Let's be clear, there wasn't really a position of mayor in the first place but the honourary title was created for him.  Afterwards, Jimmy paid for the sign now erected on a hill above the town which is similar to the Hollywood sign above the Hollywood hills.

Dildo actually has several other claims to fame including a brewery and some heritage buildings.  So, for several reasons we had to go and visit it.  It is actually quite a charming little town - although we weren't too happy with our accommodation there.