Longest Word for a Geographical Place is in New Zealand
The Longest Word for a Geographical Place is in New Zealand
A hill in New Zealand gets first prize for the longest place name in an English-speaking country:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
is 85 letters in length!
This native Maori name translates to "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one." Many Kiwi's shorten the name to "Taumata".
But that's apparently not the end of the story - the hill has other similar names which are even longer:
For example, an alternate name has 92 letters:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaurehaeaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
And yet another name for the same hill is "Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu" which has 105 letters.
For all inquiring minds, it means "The hill of the flute playing Tamatea, who was blown hither from afar, had a slit penis, grazed his knees climbing mountains, fell on the earth, and encircled the land, to his beloved."
By the way, you get triple extra bonus points if you can guess what part of the name means "slit penis", and can specify why that it is important to the Maori...
If you need to peek, see the full unedited explanation at: http://books.google.com/books?id=5Q7oJcPaJ4kC&pg=PA130&dq=Tamatea+lacerated&lr=&sig=hS715y0aKY96_YFcVd45l7qD0aI#v=onepage&q&f=false
