nowherelord

As @[email protected] pointed out, the origin of the expression is “au Diable Vauvert”, or “at the Vauvert Devil”. I just read about it, and Vauvert is a castle in France, reputed in the Middle Ages to be the home of the Devil, for one reason or another. It just means “somewhere very far away”.

Never heard about Wabush; is it a regional thing?

You’re absolutely right on both points, I didn’t remember until you mentioned it! Didn’t know Moukmouk was a real thing, though… The more you know!

In Québec, we say “Saint Clin-Clin Des meuh-meuh”; “Saint”, because a lot of towns here are named after a Saint, “Clin-Clin” because of another expression “ti-clin” which means some random person, so “Clin-Clin” means a random Saint, and “des meuh-meuh” because a lot of towns here have some kind of suffix like “des Saults”, or “de Brandon”, so “des meuh-meuh” (like moo-moo) is the sound a cow makes, and I guess it sounds rural or something. Also, when we talk about somewhere very far away, we say “au diable vert” “at the green devil”; not sure about the origin of this expression, though.