06/14/2026
No laughing matter...
Quebec Autoroute 85 and the Trans-Canada Highway pass through the only town in Canada and North America that has an exclamation mark in its name. The Ha! Ha! part of the name of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! wasn't meant to be funny or as an homage to Nelson Muntz, the Simpsons character who says "Ha! Ha!" as his catchphrase. Rather, the name Ha!-Ha! part of the name refers to an old French word “le haha” which means an impasse according to the Commission de Toponymie de Québec. This impasse could be attributed to Lac Témiscouata, which is just a few kilometers away from the town.
Besides Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, there is only one other town in the world that has an exclamation mark in its name. That is Westward Ho!, a village located on the coast near Devon in England. The village was named after Charles Kingsley’s novel Westward Ho!, which was published in 1855.
