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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Jackie, thanks for the response. Any others out there?
Billings sounds as though it may be named after a person (that word again) rather than a "back in the old country" town. There is no Billings in Europe - there's a bold statement! Nevertheless the person's name obviously derives from old Billa and his folk.
Thanks also for the marvellous link - I am amazed that at 4.00am they were sober enough to write it whilst at the same time being drunk enough to write it!
dxb.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Dear Phyllisstein (I love that pseudonym),
I just love the way the English have mangled French expressions over time. And then they wonder why the "Frogs" despise them.
The French don't despise us. The truth is that they choose to appear as though they despise us in order to disguise the fact that they are totally baffled by our straightforwardness. They can't believe anyone can be that straightforward, it must be a cover up for something really devious, so they label us "perfidious Albion". Anyone remember whose phrase that was?
Since Paris is just about my favourite city (San Francisco and Edinburgh almost equal it), I can't afford to believe they really despise me!
dxb.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 31
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 31 |
Since Paris is just about my favourite city (San Francisco and Edinburgh almost equal it), I can't afford to believe they really despise me! Sorry, dxb. Just teasing with tasteless stereotypes. And your love of Edinburgh seems quite in tune for a Francophile; it always strikes me as a very French-looking city somehow. On a complete tangent (is this allowed?): I was amazed to learn recently that the English court spoke French almost exclusively (and never bothered to learn the language of the populace) for a few hundred years. Maybe that's why the great unwashed took such pleasure in mangling the French phrases.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
And how many of y'all who know who Matt Dillon was also know who played him on the original radio show?
ONE!
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1 |
a large number of English place names are Saxon in origin...
On an analogous note - is there any truth to the statement that "Torpenhow Hill" represents four generations of conquest, linguistic assimilation, and inadvertent redundancy bred of ignorance, and would really be "HillHillHill Hill" if translated back into the respective languages of the successive conquerors?
i.e., TOR = hill in indigenous language PEN = hill in language of first conqueror, who called it Tor Pen, thinking it was "Tor Hill" HOW = hill by next wave, giving "Torpen How" in his language HILL by most recent, etc., giving the present Torpenhow Hill
Or is this all just another appealing Urban Legend?
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Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Dunno wofa... but "tor" is Norse, no?
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1 |
"tor" is Norse, no?
Don't know for sure, but it's English by now ! At least in all the crossword puzzles.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Well, ICLIU from http://m-w.com: Main Entry: tor Pronunciation: 'tor Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English torr Date: before 12th century : a high craggy hill Hmmph. I coulda sworn.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1 |
from m-w.com: tor...noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English torr Date: before 12th century a high craggy hill
...and M-W is no help at all for Pen (n) = hill (though it does give "prison" and "female swan" and nothing whatsoever to suggest How (n) = hill...
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