Comments on: Yeovil?

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:12:45 +0000

If you hadn’t mentioned the Slaughters, I would have. I’ve also always been fond of Braughton-under-Water, and Upton Downs.
Not so far from Yeovil, Ottery St. Mary may not be totally absurd, but it still looks pretty funny when you’re driving past it late at night. I guess Wookey Hole was hardly funny at all before 1977. Woolfardisworthy, in North Devon, has almost totally given up on its wilfull spelling and gone with the more phonetic Woolsery, mostly, I think, because the cramped roads that lead to it just don’t have room for the longer name to be put on signs.

I myself come from Perranarworthal (no longer hyphenated, alas) so I can’t talk much. Since I moved to the US I’ve had to deal with Horseheads and Painted Post, but my US favourite is Truth or Consequences, charmingly close to Elephant Butte, New Mexico.

By: iain

iain — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:01:13 +0000

Strange that no one has mentioned Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter yet, or Horton-cum-Studley.

The closest British term for ‘hick’ is ‘teuchter’, but even in Scotland it’s falling out of use.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:57:27 +0000

Let us not overlook, either, Muir & Norden’s
Balham, gateway to the south
(“Time has passed by old Balham. So shall we.”)
and Jenning’s original dictionary of English placenames
(“Ilkely: having large ankles”)
later ripped off by The Meaning of Liff.

One of the joys of returning to Potter in later life is discovering the dirty jokes – having T. Driberg, for example, the source of various usages of ‘cottaging’.

There are in the village of Erith
Men who nobody seeth or heareth;
And there is by the marge
Of the river a barge
That nobody roweth or steereth.

and of course the at first surreal
“I come from Hampton Wick, so I’m used to innuendo.”
From whence came the Goon’s Major Hugh Jamtin.

By: Cala

Cala — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:43:47 +0000

Medicine Hat, Alberta is one of my favorite town names (everyone refers to it as the Hat) as is Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

By: vivian

vivian — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:43:13 +0000

Mianus, Connecticut?

By: Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:26:50 +0000

‘Yeo’ means ‘river’.

By: s. kramer

s. kramer — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:30:40 +0000

I’m pretty sure that Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (a timid spinster who ends up covorting with Satan & becoming a witch) in the book of the same name lives in Yeovil. More recently, I seem to recall it as the hometown of Polly Jean Harvey. Combined, those two things have made me curious about the place, and it’s strange spelling. Anyone know the derrivation?

By: r. clayton

r. clayton — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:01:04 +0000

The machine to my left is called West Runton. I got the name from a New Yorker article about a woman who wrote bigoted (or perhaps just chauvinist) travel books. “West Runton” sounds funny (or perhaps just amusing, particularly if you lean on “Runt”), but I like the way it rolls around in my mouth when I say it.

By: Nabakov

Nabakov — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:51:55 +0000

This is not what the people on the ground were saying when I was in Munster Lager.

By: Cryptic Ned

Cryptic Ned — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:32:26 +0000

I guess I have an inaccurate idea of the cultural signifieds swirling around the concept of Huddersfield. I would also ask why Merthyr Tydfil is the butt of jokes, but I think every derogatory reference I've seen was from one person, so that might also not be a justified question.

By: serial catowner

serial catowner — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:31:42 +0000

When you think about it, the television series Avengers has a lot of Harry Potter in it. Stead is always driving off to Lower Snicclesfeld in a very Stephen Potter automobile.

The funny thing about American placenames is hearing the tourists try to pronounce them. To a local, it seems inexplicable that anyone could mangle a simple name like ‘Walla Walla’. But we give a modest handicap for ‘Puyallup’.

By: Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:33:41 +0000

Hick? You’re looking for ‘yokel’. The Irishism ‘culchie’ works as well, but has less recognition in most of Ukania.

Not only have we forgotten about Mike Harding, we live in culture where nobody has thought to revive the 1970s folk club scene in general. This may or may not be a good thing.

By: Cryptic Ned

Cryptic Ned — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:17:16 +0000

Chav does not seem right. Pikey? Or Bumpkin? Or perhaps hicks are unique to America.

I thought “Pikey” was specific for the gypies or Irish Traveler groups, although the movie “Snatch” may have misled me on this.

By: matt d

matt d — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:35:56 +0000

Canada has Moose Factory, Moose Jaw, and what I’m confident is the winner here:
Dildo, Newfoundland.

By: Al Gunn

Al Gunn — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:26:28 +0000

re 34 above: Exactly!

I also wonder what the British translation of “hick” is?

Chav does not seem right. Pikey? Or Bumpkin? Or perhaps hicks are unique to America.

Anyway, may I quote Betjeman? It seems faintly topical.

Alright, I’ll just post a link…

http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html