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

And how are things done differently there?
Infrequently. I also have no idea how 'different' they thought Scotland was! Although, back in the Sixties, Scotland was exotic if you lived in the South West of England.
 
'They' probably thought that Scotland in the 60s was full of hordes of bagpipe-playing haggis roaming the hillsides, in black and white, pointing at aeroplanes I expect.
 
'They' probably thought that Scotland in the 60s was full of hordes of bagpipe-playing haggis roaming the hillsides, in black and white, pointing at aeroplanes I expect.
Well...to be fair....
 
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
The two stations were built nearly 300 miles apart in the nineteenth century and serve different needs. You can't travel directly between them.
Also, Lime Street was built first.
 
From this site.

Liverpool Street
The station dates back to 1864 and takes its name from the local road. This itself was only named in 1827, in honour of Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. If we trace further back, the PM's title obviously comes from the city of Liverpool. This was first recorded in 1190 as Liuerpul, which probably means a pool or creek of muddy water. Hence, this station is the only London terminus to be named after a scouse bog.


What remains of Liverpool Street is still there, albeit only a couple of hundred yards long, if that!

liverpool street ec2.png
 
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....."
On a slightly different tack, not involving mistaken names, but humorous nonetheless, some friend of my folks came to visit them from Devon, they wanted to have a tour around the town, there is no sightseeing tours in the town because it's a sh*t town, so the went to the bus station, got on a random bus and asked for a return ticket, 'where to?' Asked the driver, 'to here of course' they replied.
 
Oh Nosmo....that's an old joke.....but we'll let you use it as it seems likely to have happened.
 
A few years ago (well before satnavs) I was on a golf tour in Norfolk with some friends. We were due to play at Costessey Golf Club which we knew was somewhere on the outskirts of Norwich. We stopped two or three times to ask for directions but no one seemed to know where it was. Finally we found a local postman who looked puzzled for a while then said "Oh, you mean Cossy". Why, just why........
 
Well, I'd question if he was normal! ;)
I love American city names - most with real history and interest - but who T.F. would say "I'm founding this city ..." or "This town was called that but we're now going to call it ..."
Normal?
Where is "Nothingtoseehere" or "Youmightcallitstrangebut"?
 
America and Australia are great for these 'plucked-out-of-the-air' names.
Shows a sense of humour.
 
Well, I'd question if he was normal! ;)
I love American city names - most with real history and interest - but who T.F. would say "I'm founding this city ..." or "This town was called that but we're now going to call it ..."
Normal?
Where is "Nothingtoseehere" or "Youmightcallitstrangebut"?
A lot of 'em seem to have derived from British place names, or names of famously know people from Britain.
 
Re Scottish place-name-oddities, a couple of which cited a little way upthread. An element of this part of the place-name-weirdness scene which strikes me -- is that for an English person unacquainted with Scottish language peculiarities: a fair few Scottish settlements pose problems as to -- from their spelling -- how to pronounce them; and said English person's attempts at guessing pronunciation will probably be very wrong. The first-prize-winner in my experience of this matter, came my way for the first time a couple of years ago. It's the village of Kilncadzow in South Lanarkshire, a little way north of Lanark town. I learn that it's pronounced something like "Kill-cay-geh". English people boggling at this one, often remark that with a name like that; it looks as though the place belongs in Poland rather than Scotland.
 
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