No dildos here

 

No visit to Newfoundland would be complete without a stop in Dildo. We can now say we’ve “been there, done that”, and we even got our Dildo souvenir.

T-shirts, keychains, magnets, but no dildos

How exactly did the town of Dildo get its name? No one really knows for sure, but it’s been called that since at least 1711. Here are three (of the countless numbers of) possibilities:

1. To the early English settlers, the land formation in the area looked like a dildo – a word once used to refer to a phallic-shaped pin that acted as a pivot for the oar of a rowboat;

2. Nearby Dildo Island was originally named De l’ile de l’eau by the French, and over time the name was corrupted and became Dildo;

3. Mariners who were stuck waiting for enough wind to move their boats through the narrow channel called Dildo Run often said they were in the doldrums, or “dilly dollies”, which was eventually shortened to Dildo.

No matter how the town got its name, it still makes me giggle when I say, “We’ve been to Dildo.”