Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!

The Canada Post sign on the post office of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, photographed in July 2008. Two exclamation marks in one place name, and the national postal service prints both without blinking. Nobody here is laughing at anything. The likeliest explanation is an old meaning of haha, an impasse or unexpected obstacle, here the sharp bend in nearby Lake Témiscouata that forced travelers to carry their boats overland.