If only I had the self-confidence of the guy who went to Australia and said “this place is called New South Wales now.”
I always wanted to be a fly on the wall when they named the colony (later state) of Virginia.
“We should name this place after Queen Elizabeth.”
“Excellent idea, Elizabethia it is!”
“No, no. Virginia. 'Cause she’s never… you know. Wink wink, nudge nudge.”Those are both from the same Mitchel and Webb sketch.
Australia is also just called South. And apparently someone proposed the name Borealia (North) for Canada.
I sometimes wonder why that isnt just “New Wales”. Is there something so distinct about the south of Wales that makes it be seen as something distinct to name something after?
Yes, Wales is generally divided into North, Mid and South (and Corner, as in Cornwall).
South Wales generally corresponds with the former Kingdom of Deheubarth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deheubarth?wprov=sfla1
Deheubarth was punished for rebelling against Engkand in 1282 by being divided into the three counties of South Wales. Referring to it as South Wales rather than south Wales is a miniature act of rebellion in itself; the Welsh government styles it capitalised to emphasise that historical distinction; the Britsh government uses lower case to erase the distinction.
People naming things in Australia:
- Townsville
- Western Australia
- Shark bay
- Great Sandy Desert
- Little Sandy Desert
- Snowy Mountains
But you also have wildcards:
- Tasmania (not actually a mental illness)
- Monkey Mia (There are no monkeys, and nobody named Mia)
- Lake disappointment (contains no water)
- Blue mountains (they are mostly green)
- King Island (we don’t recognise its claim to the throne)
- Shark bay
- Great Sandy Desert
- Little Sandy Desert
- Snowy Mountains
Lol these sound like Super Mario Bros levels
They’d probably go with Sandy Sandy Desert.
The Powerpuff Girls happened in Australia‽‽
The city of Townsville, yes (it is in fact a city)
TIL Powerpuff girls is set in a place called Townsville
Didn’t you cunts also name a swimming pool after your prime minister who died swimming in the ocean?
Lake disappointment (contains no water)
Well, that would be very disappointing if your lake had no water. So I think they nailed that one.
Lake disappointment (contains no water)
I don’t know, that sounds like a pretty accurate name for a lake without water
My d&d game tends to work better when I just name things like “The Nightmare Wood” and “The Old Hills”. The simplicity somehow lands harder.
Reminds me of
Torpenhow Hill is a hill in Cumbria, England. Its name consists of the Old English ‘Tor’, the Welsh ‘Pen’, and the Danish ‘How’ - all of which translate to modern English as ‘Hill’. Therefore, Torpenhow Hill would translate as hill-hill-hill hill
Fantasy world names: scadrial, Pallimustus, Vulcan, Tatoine
Real planet names by locals: Dirt
It was called “Earth” because we needed to distinguish it from Sky and Water, which were totally different things.
But then the fire nation attacked
Reminds of the old story that I heard (unsure if it’s true or not) about Torpenhow Hill in the UK.
Over centuries… various invaders and conquerors had come to that place and asked what it was called… First it was called Tor later on invaders added the word ‘Pen’ which was their word for Hill… later, more invaders came along and added the suffix ‘How’ which was their word for Hill… and finally… it was named in more modern English as Torpenhow Hill… which literally translates as Hill, Hill, Hill, Hill.
I don;t know if that’s 100% true or not… but it’s an amusing little story and given the oddities of the English language… I’d like to think it was.
Especially given there’s a species of bear out there that’s name is literally translated as Bear, Bear, Bear.
It’s kind of true. The last hill seems to be a modern invention, and Torpenhow Hill isn’t listed on any maps. There is a village there called Torpenhow, though, and that is Hillhillhill
Istanbul is literally “to the city” or in a way just “the city”
Beijing is “northern capital”, Tokyo is “eastern capital”, and Kyoto is “capital capital”.
Fun fact: Celts were originally central European, but the British Isles and Brittany were the only places Celtic culture survived the Romans.
that’s not fun, that’s horrifying
Some Celts drowned when doggerland became dogger island then dogger bank as the glaciers retreated. The sea flooding all the land must have been a surprise for them, no high land was high enough
That was a few thousand years before Celts were around.
Edit: It was also pretty slow; it was a couple of hundred miles across and took three thousand years to disappear, so it’s on the order of a few miles in a lifetime.
Naming my main character “Alexander” and every time I visit a city I tell the DM to refer to it as “Alexandria” going forward.
According to USPS, there are 32 towns in the US named Franklin. lol
There are 88 towns named “Washington”.
Not really true. (the Roman misunderstanding part)
Well that clears things up.
To all the men obsessed with the Roman empire: you are to Republicans what the Greek culture is to Democrats. #generalization #butTrue
