I like British town names. On the train from Cheltenham to Hereford, I studied my Collins Britain map book looking for odd ones and came up with several. I was highly entertained while finding Pucklechurch. I have learned in the past not to attempt to say place names out loud. The most extreme example of this is in Poland. I was really shocked when I learned that Lodz is pronounced “Woodge”. There is often a discrepancy between English as I phonetically learned it as it clashes with English, or any other language, as it’s actually spoken in distant places. This seems to be especially true in Great Britain, where Hereford is pronounced Hare uh Furd.
Dymock is near Hereford. Is that Dye mock or Dim ick like the bookstores in Australia, with both syllables equally stressed? And is Rowde pronounced to rhyme with crowd, or is it like the American word rowdy, as in disorderly? Ask a local, who might or might not know. I wonder what it’s like for males who live in either Stud or Studley, both of which are near Birmingham? Or is that pronounced Stude ley? I had no one to ask.
I found Bishop’s Itchington! It’s just south of Long Itchington. Did the bishop who had the probably hard-to-reach itch name both? Many town names in Great Britain contain 2 or more words, like the famous Stratford-Upon-Avon. As I pondered this I was looking at Chipping Sodbury and wondering who named it and why? It was not too far from Box. Do you have to be a pugilist to live there, or have a squarish shape? Do you have to enjoy slumber to live in Pillowell? Do you have to endure long winters to reside in Winterbourne? By the time I was finding Wickwar, Speen, Thrupp, and Clent we were approaching Hereford.
This list resulted from only 2 pages!
Hank
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