Odd place names.

[DiddlyDodds]

How did they get these through planning !

 

[Tim Hall]

There really is a village called Llandewi Brefi, in Ceredigion, Wales. I also once mounted Lord Hereford's Knob, not very far from errr, Hereford.

It's where Saint David was speaking and the ground miraculously rose up beneath him, so the people at the back could hear better.

 

[oldroadman]

Gibraltar isn't just a tax haven off the south of Spain, it's also nine separate places in the UK.

As the aforementioned Egypt, not just near Bradford, also one of the same name north of Slough.

 

[oldroadman]

And one more, Alamein, not far from Andover. A long way from north Africa!

 

[classic33]

As the aforementioned Egypt, not just near Bradford, also one of the same name north of Slough.

Also out @ColinJ's way, along with Scotland.

 

[steveindenmark]

Ive been to both Fxck and Wankum.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Tickle Cock Bridge is in Castleford

There's also a Grape Lane in Whitby, which allegedly has similar origins

On a similar, yet divergent line, we have a young lady whose surname is abbreviated by some staff to 'Mab' (or 'Mabs')

She was pleased when I told her that Mab was the Queen of the Fairies (Midsummer Nights Dream?), & jokingly liked the princess/royalty connotations

She was, however, very much less pleased, when I also told her that 'Mab' was a derogatory name for a prostitute, in Victorian times

(There's a MabGate, in Leeds)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loves_Corner,_Illinois
Loves Corner, Illinois. Right close to Cave-in Rock, and near where some of the first scenes in How the West Was Won were filmed

 

[srw]

How did they get these through planning !

The obvious answer is that most of them were named well before planning came in. And many of them are only suggestive because of an increasing US influence on our language.

 

[Yorksman]

This village sign in Austria is one of the most frequently stolen in europe. Name endings with 'ing' tend to mean something like 'the followers of' and are associated with a personal name, in this case, a nobleman named Focko.

 

[Yorksman]

And many of them are only suggestive because of an increasing US influence on our language.

But there are some americanisms which have very different meanings:

 

[Dogtrousers]

There are two places in Shropshire called Wigwig and Homer. The names inspired a children's book in the 60s or 70s about two pigs ... called Wigwig and Homer, natch.

 

[PaulSecteur]

Coventry.

The place name isn't that odd, but it is the name of an odd place. (Do you know what they call buns? BATCHES!!! Madness!!!)

 

[shouldbeinbed]

There's a Nob End between Bolton and Bury.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

But there are some americanisms which have very different meanings:

'Ditto' Australia

Mike Harding (the comedian/folk-singer) once did a sketch about being in Aus, & hearing a woman saying she "Felt like a Shag on a Rock", Hardings next line was about looking for boulders................

Presumably, she was implying that she wanted to stretch out & enjoy the Sun, as a Cormorant does when it's (I suppose) drying its wings?

 

[Gravity Aided]

In my part of the States, people refer to the Great Blue Heron as the Shag-Poult. Must be a common English Language derivation then. You'd have to find an old person, several generations in the country hereabout, to have any idea of what you're talking about.