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zmjezhd #169068 07/08/07 03:16 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
What is a hill station, please?

It's a town in the mountains that is cooler than the towns down on the plains mainly in India. Just last month I visited one, Udagamandalam, (or Ooty for short) while in South India.

Here's a list of them.


You went to Ooty? Lucky you! A friend's father grows tea there, and it's on my list of places to visit if I can make it over next year.

sjmaxq #169069 07/08/07 03:47 AM
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You went to Ooty? Lucky you! A friend's father grows tea there, and it's on my list of places to visit if I can make it over next year.

I went to a tea factory, and watched them processing leaves. It was very interesting. And the weather was almost Bay Area San Franciscan in comparison to 40 degree cee Chennai (aka Madras). I haven't posted any steam train or Ooty photos yet, but see me blog for some India pix.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #169080 07/09/07 02:38 PM
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Udagamandalam, (or Ooty for short) Either of you know why this particular spelling of the short version? There's not an o, a t, or a y in the full name at all!
Why not Udi, Uda, or even Udy?

Jackie #169093 07/09/07 07:18 PM
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Either of you know why this particular spelling of the short version? There's not an o, a t, or a y in the full name at all!

It's also called Ootacamund or Udhagai. The double-o in English usually sounds like a u in other languages. Another city I was in is called Trichy (or sometimes Tiruchi) for short, but its official name is: Tiruchirappalli. Part of the reason might be what the town was called originally in the native language of the area which is Toda. The language of the area is now mostly Tamil. Then it was the British who had alternate names more easily pronounced by anglophones. Ooty was pronounced in English so as to rhyme with snooty, and I've heard it used to be called Snooty Ooty by some.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #169112 07/10/07 04:09 PM
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The double-o in English usually sounds like a u in other languages. I thought that might be at least part of it. So the initial sound is oo, not yew. In trying to think of other foreign (to me) place names that start with U, I realized that I most always hear Yewganda.

Jackie #169121 07/11/07 02:10 PM
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So the initial sound is oo, not yew.

Yes. The forms beginning in u are transliterations of the Tamil words for the town.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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