Of course you'll find Paradise in Kentucky, but it's only one of the many unusual place names in the Commonwealth. Meeting these names for the first time, visitors and residents alike assume that some clever or funny stories lie behind them. So they ask, how did Elkhorn Creek get its name? Were the roads to Red River really Hell each way? Did bugs really tussle in Monroe County? Why was everyone whooping for Larry? To be hospitable and helpful, Kentuckians have come up with convincing -if not always truthful- answers to these and other questions about how places got their names. Some of these stories were clearly not intended to be believed, though a few of them have been anyway. From Red Hot to Monkey's Eyebrow presents some of the classic accounts of Kentucky's oddest place names.

Complete with map, index, and humorous drawings by Linda Boileau, this handy guide is a delight.

Robert Rennick, a trained folklorist and amateur social historian, is also the author of Kentucky Place Names.

Reviews:

"I can imagine that if someone was really interested in understanding colorful town names, that he or she wouldn't make it across the breadth of Kentucky in several years. It would take that long to scope out the history of the names that catch our fancy. The good news: Rennick has done much of the dirty work for us."-Central Kentucky News Journal (Campbellsville)

"They have a folk truth about them that needs recording as much as does the crystal pure fact... delightfully narrated, we can be thankful that [Rennick] has finally decided to put his placename stories into print."-Names

"A delightful discussion of over seventy of Kentucky's many unusual place names"-Filson Club History Quarterly

"This delightful paperback will support the study of Kentucky history, as well as units of folklore, and will appeal to researchers and browsers alike."-Library Lane

"Rennick's book should become a permanent fixture in the cars of those who like to vary from the multi-land highways and really see the state in which they are traveling."-Bowling Green Daily News

"These anecdotes will bring a smile to those of us who have wondered why there aren't any stallions in Horse Cave."-Southern Living

"Be sure to check out Nonesuch, Decoy, and definitely Bugtussle in this entertaining tour of outlandish place names."-Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society

"Each name has its own story to tell, if we are able to hear it and prepared to listen to it."-Journal of American Folklore