Zzyzx Road

Zzyzx is a location in San Bernardino County , California . Zzyzx Road is the road leading to it. Both the location and the road are often believed to be the lexicographically greatest (alphabetically last, at least in English alphabetical order) exemplars of their respective classes, recognized locations and recognized street names in the world. However, a Zzz street exists in Bangs, Texas , and a Zzzz street exists in Kearney, Nebraska .

The name Zzyzx, pronounced "ZYE-ziks," was given to the area in 1944 by Curtis Howe Springer , claiming it to be the last word in the English language. Zzyzx Road is a 4.5 mile/7.2 km -long road —part paved, part dirt—in the Mojave Desert . It connects Interstate 15 eastward to the now-defunct Zzyzx Springs Spa, now used as the Desert Studies Center of the California State University system. The area is also the location of Lake Tunedae , the habitat of the endangered Mohave chub .

Word Ways magazine verified the source of the lexicography as an undated San Bernardino County map published by the Automobile Club of Southern California . The magazine characterized Zzyzx Springs as "a hydrologic feature and a privately owned spa catering to the senior citizen, about 8.5 mi. (13.7 km) south of Baker on the western edge of Soda Dry Lake, off the abandoned right-of-way of the old Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad ."

Zzyzx was approved as a place name by the United States Board on Geographic Names on June 14 , 1984 . As is the case with the road, Zzyzx, California is the USBGN's lexicographically greatest place name.

The word "Zzyzx" has been adopted as a tradename or logo by a variety of individuals and organizations, most notably a manufacturer of computer peripherals . Norwegian band Zeromancer have also used "Zzyzx" as the title of one of their albums.

In the computer game Colossal Cave Adventure the slighty different, but still comparable crude word xyzzy has risen to in-joke fame among hackers and geeks