Hype for the Future 22/284: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

To the south of Clara Barton’s birth town of Oxford, Massachusetts, is the Town of Webster, Massachusetts, home to the absolute longest place name in not just Central Massachusetts, but North America as a whole. The folk translation is a perfect allegory for social roles: “I fish on my side, you fish on your side, nobody fishes in the middle.” However, the riddle may not be a perfect translation for Lake Chaubunagungamaug, though a more accurate translation continues to refer to the “middle” of the lake.