Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is an unofficial name of Lake Chaubunagungamaug at 42°02′30″N, 71°50′30″W east of Webster, Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border. The Nipmucks and other tribes gave it a variety of similar names. Most people call it Webster Lake, because they cannot pronounce the Nipmuck name, but others, including many residents of Webster, take pride in reeling off the Nipmuck version. Spelling of the long name frequently varies, even on official signs near the lake. Webster schools also have Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg written around their cafeteria as they are proud of their long name. It is also a spelling word in the elementary school system in Webster.

The name means approximately "Englishmen at Manchaug at the Fishing Place at the Boundary". Manchaug was the name of one of the tribes that lived by the shore of the lake, which was known before the Englishmen came as Chaubunagungamaugg, or "fishing place at the boundary". The lake was a noted fishing spot on the boundary of several tribes' territories, and for that reason was also used as a meeting place.

Larry Daly, editor of the Webster Times, wrote a humorous article in the 1920's about the lake, and about disputes concerning the meaning of its name. He proposed the tongue-in-cheek translation "You Fish on Your Side, I Fish on My Side, Nobody Fish in the Middle", which was met with so much popular acceptance that fairly little is known about the actual translation.

Two songs about the lake's name have been written. One was a regional (folk/country) song from the 1930s and the other was written in 1950 and recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger, released in 1954 by Decca. The latter incorporates the tale about the lake's name according to Daly.

"Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg" is the longest place name in the United States and 6th longest in the world. Its 17 uses of "g" are the most instances of any letter in a word. The name also contains more instances of the letter "a" (ten) than any other word in the English language.^[1]

The lake has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.83 km²). Route 16 passes along the north shore of the lake near the route's intersection with I-395. Road maps in the US often shorten the lake's name to "Lake Chaubunagungamaug", using only the last six syllables of the original name, and dropping the last 'g' for simplicity.