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Amusing Misunderstandings About Place-Names (Nothing To Do With The Olympics)

blessmycottonsocks

blessmycottonsocks

Antediluvian
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Wessex and Mercia
Cloudbusting said:
Yes, really. I've seen enough to convince me that average geographical knowledge in the UK is pretty poor.

I'm not judging though. I know where China, Japan and South Korea are on the world map, but I'd be the first to admit my own geographical knowledge isn't great either.
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Back when I was testing flight simulator software for the RAF, I had an Anglo-Nigerian colleague. One test required us to plot a route from RAF Lossiemouth (North East Scotland) to the Faroe Islands.
He was at a loss as to their location and asked me if they were near Egypt.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
asked me if they were near Egypt.
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Please tell me that you told him that they were. And then at every subsequent opportunity lied to him about the locations of places.

"And I gave that man directions, even though I didn't know the way, because that's the kind of guy I am this week."
H.Simpson.
 
Trevp666 said:
Please tell me that you told him that they were. And then at every subsequent opportunity lied to him about the locations of places.

"And I gave that man directions, even though I didn't know the way, because that's the kind of guy I am this week."
H.Simpson.
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Reminds me of the story/UL about the foreign tourist who hailed a taxi on London 'I need to go to Toukey' he said in broken English, many hours later the cabbie dropped him in Torquay.' Where are the planes?' The tourist asked, 'No planes 'ere mate' the cabbie replied, ''but I need to get to Istanbul, Tourkey'.
 
(lazy national stereotype warning)

If he was Chinese he would've ended up in Harrow.
 
I've hived this off into its own thread from the Olympics one. Given the subject, we shall be keeping a close eye lest it descend into "isn't Johnny Foreigner a silly sausage" / "coming over here and blah blah blah" / "we lived next door to one once" territory, at which point we will smite mightily.

Tread softly.
 
I once got sent to Ashford to collect something from a company in a road (Lets say 'Bridge Street' cos I can't remember exactly).
Drove down to Kent, into Ashford, found an Estate Agents to ask them if they had a map of the local area (this was before satnavs were even a thing), then I asked them if it was an old map they had given me as I couldn't find 'Bridge Street'?
Nope, it was an up to date map.
I phoned my boss to check.
Aaaaah........Ashford in Middlesex....I see......
 
Trevp666 said:
I once got sent to Ashford to collect something from a company in a road (Lets say 'Bridge Street' cos I can't remember exactly).
Drove down to Kent, into Ashford, found an Estate Agents to ask them if they had a map of the local area (this was before satnavs were even a thing), then I asked them if it was an old map they had given me as I couldn't find 'Bridge Street'?
Nope, it was an up to date map.
I phoned my boss to check.
Aaaaah........Ashford in Middlesex....I see......
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When I was working in Surrey, before i moved there, i was looking for somewhere to live, so i googled 'accommodation in Surrey', a nice property caught my eye in Ashford, so I phoned the letting agent and explained that I was working in Surrey and needed somewhere to live and enquired about the flat, only to be told the commute would be a bit long as it was Ashford in Kent.
 
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Further to my saga about disposing of my board game collection, I just looked up Scotland Yard on Amazon, in case I ever want to buy this superb hide-and-seek game again.

I did enjoy reading one of the questions someone posted about it!

scot1.JPG


scot2.JPG
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Further to my saga about disposing of my board game collection, I just looked up Scotland Yard on Amazon, in case I ever want to buy this superb hide-and-seek game again.

I did enjoy reading one of the questions someone posted about it!

View attachment 42948

View attachment 42949
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I'd half a dozen or so board games I wanted to offload. I'm not fussed on getting "best price". Frankly, I didn't want them to go to waste: I could've just given 'em away to a charity shop but some were actually collectors items.
Been on several "collectors" sites, asking for about £1 plus packaging - and I'm not overcharging for p&p. No one wanted 'em. Perhaps they're seeing the game not as part of a collection but as an 'investment'? Kickstarter buy-and-sell games are all the rage which upsets me. No mention of playing them or "buying to play". :(
Charity shop it was, though it broke my heart 'cause my town isn't known for the clientele who say "Wow! A complete, good condition copy of the original Cosmic Encounters? I'd pay £2!"*

* Please note: this isn't a desperate call for sales but a bemoaning of the modern board game world and "it wasn't like that in my day!"
#minorgrump
 
Stormkhan said:
I'd half a dozen or so board games I wanted to offload. I'm not fussed on getting "best price". Frankly, I didn't want them to go to waste: I could've just given 'em away to a charity shop but some were actually collectors items.
Been on several "collectors" sites, asking for about £1 plus packaging - and I'm not overcharging for p&p. No one wanted 'em. Perhaps they're seeing the game not as part of a collection but as an 'investment'? Kickstarter buy-and-sell games are all the rage which upsets me. No mention of playing them or "buying to play". :(
Charity shop it was, though it broke my heart 'cause my town isn't known for the clientele who say "Wow! A complete, good condition copy of the original Cosmic Encounters? I'd pay £2!"*

* Please note: this isn't a desperate call for sales but a bemoaning of the modern board game world and "it wasn't like that in my day!"
#minorgrump
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There are a number of board game cafes about, probably run by hipsters, should have tried one of them.
 
Not in our town. And they usually expect you to 'donate' them to their business. I don't mind giving to charity for a pittance they might earn but ...
 
Working on t'trains a couple of years ago, I was on one that started at Euston (London) and went to Lime Street (Liverpool).

It made an unscheduled stop at Milton Keynes, about 50 miles from London, and just one passenger alighted: a woman with a big wheely case.

I found out the full story later.

The woman was a visitor on way back to whichever country she lived in, and had taken the Liverpool Lime Street train by mistake.

She should have gone from Euston on the Tube to London Liverpool Street Underground station and thence to Heathrow Airport.

So the Train Manager had asked to see her ticket, found out her mistake and kindly arranged for the train to stop at Milton Keynes so she could turn back and return to London to catch her plane.

Sadly, after some miscommunication or other she got onto the next train on the same platform and continued her pointless journey North.
Lord knows where she ended up.
 
escargot said:
Working on t'trains a couple of years ago, I was on one that started at Euston (London) and went to Lime Street (Liverpool).

It made an unscheduled stop at Milton Keynes, about 50 miles from London, and just one passenger alighted: a woman with a big wheely case.

I found out the full story later.

The woman was a visitor on way back to whichever country she lived in, and had taken the Liverpool Lime Street train by mistake.

She should have gone from Euston on the Tube to London Liverpool Street Underground station and thence to Heathrow Airport.

So the Train Manager had asked to see her ticket, found out her mistake and kindly arranged for the train to stop at Milton Keynes so she could turn back and return to London to catch her plane.

Sadly, after some miscommunication or other she got onto the next train on the same platform and continued her pointless journey North.
Lord knows where she ended up.
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Sounded like you were about to break into a Music Hall song there:

 
Stormkhan said:
No one wanted 'em
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I'm guessing you're 'missing the trick' with online sales sites (I'm thinking 'ebay' but there are others).
What you do to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff is make it a 'collection' of items, maybe a dozen or so board games in your case, but with the most desirable/rare item featuring prominently.
Someone will spot it and be happy to buy the whole dozen just to also get that single item, thinking it was a bargain.
 
Six French football fans missed their Euro 2020 match by flying to Bucharest, instead of Budapest - 500 miles away.
Once they realised their mistake (they were the only obvious French fans in Bucharest) they rang the airline company’s customer service, but didn't get any joy.

“They blamed us because we don’t know the difference between Bucharest and Budapest,” complained one fan "to be honest, for me, until today, there was no difference between Bucharest and Budapest. We need to learn more about Europe.”

https://nypost.com/2021/06/24/france-fans-miss-euro-2020-game-by-going-to-bucharest-not-budapest/
 
Trevp666 said:
Possibly still travelling the UK rail network.
Occasionally alighting long enough to send a postcard home.
E.G. "Greetings from Porthcawl"
(Oh and as if by pure chance, there is such an item on t'interweb!)
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I used to have a gorgeous postcard with a couple of budgies on, featuring the red foil-embossed legend Thank you for looking after my budgie in a lovely old-fashioned handwriting font.
Possibly the most kitsch thing I've ever seen. :cool:
 
I have actually visited said 'falls' when I was about 14.
It is also a site of 'Rock Cannon'.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Six French football fans missed their Euro 2020 match by flying to Bucharest, instead of Budapest - 500 miles away.
Once they realised their mistake (they were the only obvious French fans in Bucharest) they rang the airline company’s customer service, but didn't get any joy.

“They blamed us because we don’t know the difference between Bucharest and Budapest,” complained one fan "to be honest, for me, until today, there was no difference between Bucharest and Budapest. We need to learn more about Europe.”

https://nypost.com/2021/06/24/france-fans-miss-euro-2020-game-by-going-to-bucharest-not-budapest/
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Reminds me of my friend J, who booked a flight to Bucharest, but intended to book one for Budapest.
Didn't get her money refunded.
 
Some years ago, a friend of mine was going to WGC town centre and decided to go on one of the local buses, but was not too familiar with the bus routes here, so when a bus arrived at the bus stop he leant in through the open doors and asked the bus driver "Do you go to the town centre?"
"Yes" replied the bus driver.
So on he got, paid the fare, and sat down.
He wasn't really taking that much notice and the bus drove along for about 10 minutes, stopping occasionally (as they do).
And then the bus stopped and the engine turned off and the driver announced that it was the town centre (or words to that effect).
So my friend approached the front of the bus to alight and realised he didn't recognise the surroundings.
He said to the driver "Hey, I thought this was the town centre?"
"Yes it is" replied the driver....."Hatfield Town Centre".

He was stumped by this, obviously, so got off and found a bus that went to his desired destination.
Later that day when he told me about it he made the salient observation....
"You would think that when you get on a bus IN WGC, and ask if it goes to the town centre, that the bus driver would realise you mean WGC town centre, not some other town.....I guess I'm just lucky that he wasn't going to some town centre miles and miles away....."
 
escargot said:
Working on t'trains a couple of years ago, I was on one that started at Euston (London) and went to Lime Street (Liverpool).

It made an unscheduled stop at Milton Keynes, about 50 miles from London, and just one passenger alighted: a woman with a big wheely case.

I found out the full story later.

The woman was a visitor on way back to whichever country she lived in, and had taken the Liverpool Lime Street train by mistake.

She should have gone from Euston on the Tube to London Liverpool Street Underground station and thence to Heathrow Airport.

So the Train Manager had asked to see her ticket, found out her mistake and kindly arranged for the train to stop at Milton Keynes so she could turn back and return to London to catch her plane.

Sadly, after some miscommunication or other she got onto the next train on the same platform and continued her pointless journey North.
Lord knows where she ended up.
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One has to wonder why on earth the Great Eastern Railway, or its predecessor; did not have the sense to call its London terminus, something other than Liverpool Street (preferably, some name not featuring any geographical "red herrings") -- having in mind that people tend often to be pretty thick, and "anything that can be misunderstood, will be misunderstood".

In similar vein -- something which I think has already featured on these forums -- the U.S. state of New Mexico. Endless muddle and misunderstanding, I gather, in the USA -- anyway not a place where geographical knowledge is at its most acute -- with people not knowing that their country has a state called New Mexico, and seeing references to same and thinking they must mean the nation of Mexico, = "foreign". One would think, again: that when as a result of the war in the 1840s, the USA annexed territory north of the Rio Grande, from Mexico -- including what the previous owners had called "Nuevo Mexico": those in charge would have thought, "lots of people [then as always] are pretty stupid: let us for heaven's sake, give this area a new name free from any allusion to Mexico -- otherwise, confusion will be immense and last for evermore".
 
I had family who lived on the Isle of Sheppey when I was young and my brother and I would go and stay with them for part of the summer holidays. Friends (and even teachers at school, it must be said) always asked after our holidays and how they went and how things were done differently there.... until we put them right that Sheppey is in the Medway and not far from Southend. They thought it was in Scotland.
 
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