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30 Dec 01 - 09:37 PM (#618789) Subject: What's in a Name?? From: Jeep man This is not about music, but Mudcatters are good listeners. Here goes. I have for the last few months been observing and collecting the highfalutin, pretentious names that developers dream up to christen their latest batch of Condos, Apartments and Town Houses. Some of them make sense. Most don't. For instance. THE COTSWOLDS. No I don't know what a cotswold is either. Might be a dirty word. "Jake, where you livin now?" " I live at The Cotswolds?" "Whats That?" "I dont know but it is so expensive it must be good".
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30 Dec 01 - 09:44 PM (#618794) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: AliUK The Cotswolds is an area in the south west of england. Out here in Recife, Brazil. There are two brand spanking new apartment blocks, one called Manchester and one called Oxford. I think the property developer lived in the UK for a while. |
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30 Dec 01 - 09:44 PM (#618795) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Jon Freeman try this link Jeepman Jon |
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30 Dec 01 - 09:54 PM (#618799) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Sorcha Don't those silly names get to you? The Terraces, The Forest Hill Complex, Foxrun, etc. If I were a Planner I might just name some subdivision/complex The DogShit Acres. Cemetary/Memorial Gardens and nursing homes are just as bad if not worse. Shadow Acres, Quiet Rest, Golden Living, Sunset Manor, etc. Remember when total care nursing homes were called Rest Homes??..........yea, right. Rest my ass. |
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30 Dec 01 - 10:06 PM (#618806) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Jeep man I have to remember this one I saw near Myrtle Beach. JOES TRAILER PARK NO DRUNKS. I think Joe had it together. Jeep |
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30 Dec 01 - 10:22 PM (#618815) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Jon Freeman Thinking shit... I think I may of mentioned this before but when I lived in Llandudno, North Wales, there was a little area affectionately called "Bog Island" by the locals. It was a strip of ground in the middle of the roads where the public toilets were. The council have since changes the traffic system so it is no longer an island, prettied it up and given signs with its "proper" name (North West Gardens I think) but I think it will always be "Bog Island" to the locals. Jon |
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30 Dec 01 - 10:25 PM (#618817) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Kaleea There is a hoity toity section of my city with a couple of short streets of duplexes. The area has a lovely set of curved brick walls at the entrance to the small addition which is called "Plural Residences." And, no, I could not have made up something so preposterous and pretentious. |
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30 Dec 01 - 10:37 PM (#618822) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: catspaw49 There is a road outside of Columbus where I grew up named Gender Road. The G by all of us was always a J and the word was said in the same way as you do regarding sex......Jender. As the area became fashionable the new folks all referred to it with the hard G, evidently they were embarassed by the sexual angle. Soon, many condos and apartments began to spring up and the one name that simply broke me up? "Reflections on Gender" Wonder what they reflect on? Spaw |
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31 Dec 01 - 09:34 AM (#618978) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Mr Red I called one of my houses "Isle of Dew" - got divorced there - was it a portent? |
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31 Dec 01 - 11:45 AM (#619021) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: CapriUni I live in one such place: a medium sized development(72 single family homes), that is basically a connected set of cul-de-sacs. The development is called "Oakbridge Forest" 'Oakbridge' is a blending of the names of two nearby neighborhoods: Oak Grove, and Great Bridge... 'Forest' comes from the fact that the developer made the conscious decision not to cut down all the trees. I'm more curious, however, about how my particular cul-de-sac got its name: "Sandcastle Court"... not a beach in sight. Though I don't mind -- as a semi-pro writer specializing in fantasy, it fits like a glove. "Sandcastle Court" in the "Oakbridge Forest". Sounds like I should be an elf or something... |
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31 Dec 01 - 12:11 PM (#619031) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Uncle_DaveO You can depend on it that if it's named (whatever) Forest there isn't a tree within three miles. If it's (whatever) Valley or (whatever) Peak, it's dead flat. And the like. For some reason developers (in the Indianapolis area, anyway) think that English names make their dumps sound upper-classy. Say it's Brockhampton Arms (real example). I am sure no-one here ever heard of a Brockhampton, either as a place or family name. And the developer has no faintest idea that "Arms" means a coat of arms; there seems to be an idea that "Arms" refers to a sort of protective or sheltering influence, like your mother's arms. Dave Oesterreich |
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31 Dec 01 - 01:19 PM (#619063) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Amos There is no question that the literacy level of developers and their rationale for choosing names is really sadly lacking. There ought to be a Names Board or perhaps an association of freelance out-of-work English majors more qualified to provide names of the places we live in!! A |
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31 Dec 01 - 01:40 PM (#619077) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Sonnet The local sewage treatment works is situated at Cheesebottom, and there is a Nibble Bottom at Springvale, about a mile away from my home in Penistone (pronounced "penny stone"), South Yorkshire. Sonnet |
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31 Dec 01 - 04:07 PM (#619139) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Here in a western semi-arid prairie city of about 1 million, they have just about used up all the green-sounding English, Irish, and Scottish names for streets and subdivisions. Coyote Heights, Dry Grass Acres, Sandy Bottoms and Disappointment Gardens would be more suitable. Subdivisions are being built around small artificial ponds they call Lakes and named for British Isles lakes and bays. Enuf to make a ole Injun cry. |
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31 Dec 01 - 04:40 PM (#619156) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Murray MacLeod At least one can understand the rationale behind the naming of these developments. What puzzles me is the process by which Toyota choose the names for their car models. What, for example is a "Camry"? Murray
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31 Dec 01 - 04:51 PM (#619160) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Ned Ludd Sonnet.. around here (Huddersfield) we pronounce it 'Penniston' though I often think it would be more fun mispronounced. What about the Isle of Skye,atthe top of the Pennines? |
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31 Dec 01 - 04:53 PM (#619163) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,Desdemona It does make me laugh; they always call these enormous, posh housing developments ("starter chateaus", a friend of mine calls them!) things like "Saxon Woods" or "Rosewood Court", when in actuality they've probably levelled the woods to build the damned cul-de-sac! Anothet thing that drives me mad is that they build 3,500 sqaure foot "luxury" houses on such eensy weensy plots & then sell them for such exhorbitant prices! If I'm going to pay in excess of $500,000 for a home, the last thing I want to see from my bathroom widow is my neighbour's bathroom---privacy is a "luxury", too! We live in an old house with all the requisite old house "charms", such as draughts, mice, peeling paint, damp nasty cellar, etc. BUT, we also have millwork & maple floors that we could never afford today, architectural details that are never found in new houses, and 100 other things I shan't bore you with listing----and we live on a STREET with lovely old trees & other draughty old houses, with an ordinary STREET name! |
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31 Dec 01 - 04:54 PM (#619164) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,Desdemona Oooops---didn't mean to post twice; I must've been in a passion! |
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31 Dec 01 - 05:18 PM (#619191) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Deda Around here, which is a very-far-inland, semi-arid, near desert climate, there are dozens of places called things like "{Blank-more} Shores", "waterview park", Riverside, Brookview, etc., etc -- all of which are lies. Lies, lies, LIES , I tell you! ahem. well, yes. carry on. |
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31 Dec 01 - 06:28 PM (#619209) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST Here in New Jersey they have a habit of naming the developments after the trees that were removed to build them. And the streets are named after trees that aren't native to North America. My favorite was a development where the streets were named (apparently) after some of the employees, most of whom had Eastern European names. Dzrk Road, for example, or Krgzwalskij St. Someone had a sense of humor, but the residents probably aren't too happy. |
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31 Dec 01 - 06:49 PM (#619222) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Deckman Hey ... I'm delighted to see the postings from Great Briton. I thought that choosing very bad names for developments was a uniquely American foible. A real story happened about ten years ago when a developer started the process to build a whole GROUP of new homes on the edge of a very large city park, close to where I live in the Seattle (USA) area. Neighbors fought him tooth and nail, and lost. So, he succeeded in making his millions, and then had the crassness to name the project ... "THE PRESERVE!" |
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01 Jan 02 - 03:27 AM (#619359) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,Souter You think that's bad, try mental hospitals. My sister was once in Meadowwood. |
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01 Jan 02 - 06:40 AM (#619387) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,guest - sandra Things aren't that much different in Australia - Kings Cross, the entertainment/sex/drugs centre of Sydney has been crowned in recent years by a very ritzy 38 storey building (on Kings Cross Rd) called "The Elan - No. 1 Kings Square, Rushcutters Bay". Rushcutters Bay is the next suburb down the hill (all the suburbs down the hill are very exclusive)& obviously the developers didn't want to scare off rich buyers. One of these buyers who wasn't scared off bought 2 of the 4 penthouses off the plan & combined them to create his perfect home (or maybe just his inner city apartment). By the way Kings Cross has become a much more exclusive suburb over the past 20 years, but still has a sleazy name. Some folks wouldn't go near the place & others enjoy living there. |
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01 Jan 02 - 02:29 PM (#619502) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Rolfyboy6 Here in the wine/redwood country of Northern California we are afflicted with newcomers building fake chateau (Walt Disney design) and naming things 'Clos' or 'Close'. Most new 'boutique' wineries have names like Peju Provence Winery and Clos du Val and Sanguinetti Estates. The Wine Country Rich Yuppie divorce: He made his money with a start-up company or a direct mail catalog. Now he dreams of his own picture perfect vineyard/winery, and standing at the bar of the Meadowood Country Club during the annual charity wine auction with rich and powerful men. She dreams of having her French Provincial kitchen shown in Architectural Digest. After two years they discover to their horror 'viticuture' is FARMING and your armpits smell in high summer. After eight years they hate each other and get a divorce. |
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01 Jan 02 - 02:45 PM (#619510) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Jane 2001 What's in a name? A hell of a lot. This would be a perfectly acceptable town, I'm sure, if it wasn't called Grimsby and therefore the butt of every third rate comedian's wit. Unfortunately they've got the locals convinced. Regarding street names, they seem to be named fairly prosaically after prominent local people, but elsewhere I have seen Carsick and Deepsick lanes. I love old names with meanings, but can't imagine what these originally meant. |
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02 Jan 02 - 01:44 PM (#619964) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: JEM-Wales I used to live in Whitstable, Kent UK. There was a loevly leafy lane that traversed from the Thanet Way(a nasty, nasty Road) through to somewhere near Canterbury. It was called Foxes Cross Bottom. Why, well because the foxes used to cross over at the bottom of the road in a small wooded vale. They built a new housing estate at the end by Thanet Way (now remaned to cover an European number).... The new inhabitants objected to their address, so they renamed the road Golden Valley ............ but the foxes still cross at the bottom. Nature will have its way. |
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02 Jan 02 - 03:12 PM (#619999) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: weepiper JEM, a similar thing is underway in Edinburgh, a new (fairly posh) development was named 'Trotter Haugh' after a family called the Trotters who had been prominent in the area for a long time - 'haugh' is a scots word meaning gently sloping land beside a river, accurately describing the situation. The residents got all snotty about it because of the tv comedy show 'Only Fools And Horses' in which the main family is called Trotter. The residents thought Trotter Haugh sounded too much like it was something to do with Rodney and Del Boy and didn't have the right genteel ring, and they also whinged about haugh being 'too hard to spell or pronounce'. They wanted to change the name to something turgid and irrelevant with no local connection, I don't remember exactly what but it was indistinguishable from the usual sorts of names found in modern estates across the UK...soulless stuff like 'Meadow Drive' or 'Knowesley Park' or 'Beech Gardens' etc etc. Yeech |
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02 Jan 02 - 04:40 PM (#620042) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Cappuccino Referring to the very first post, I can claim to actually be in the Cotswolds... well, the cheap part of it, anyway. The 'classy' part of it is what is supposed to be classic English countryside - stone-built cottages, and all country-squire types. You can't find a local person living in a real Cotswold village any more - it's all retired pop stars and disgraced members of parliament. Five miles up the road from here is the Wychwood, immortalised in (I think) a Strawbs album. Two miles south is the village which claims to be the home of Morris dancing. And I often offend my fellow Christians here by pointing out that we're in a traditional area of black magic, 'the old religion'. But American place-names, and house-names, often puzzle us. I have never worked out what a Duplex is... but I enjoyed the story of the young lad who, desperate to chat up the new girl in town, asked the classic question: 'How do you like living in a Playtex?'! - Ian B
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02 Jan 02 - 06:07 PM (#620089) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: artbrooks American (and, I suppose, Canadian) place names are often derived from words in Indian (aka Native American) languages, individuals or tribal groups. For example, Seattle, Washington is supposedly named after Chief Sealth, and I once lived in Steilacoom (a tribe), also in Washington. Given that there are (or once were) hundreds of tribes in North America, that provides some options that aren't available in the UK. We also, especially in the Southwest, have a lot of place names that are Spanish. I live in Albuquerque (which should be spelled Alburquerque), on Sprenger Drive, near the intersection of Paseo del Norte and Wyoming. How's that for a mixture...and my neighborhood has a name but I don't have a clue what it is! And, IanB, if you really don't know what a duplex is, think of it as the residential equivalent of a siamese twin: 2 houses with a common wall, generally laid out as mirror images of each other. I've lived in a couple, and their habitability is directly related to the thickness of the wall. |
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02 Jan 02 - 06:36 PM (#620102) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Cappuccino Thanks, Art - the word 'duplex' is never used in Britain. Over here, that kind of house would have the rather traditional term 'semi-detached', which accounts probably for the vast majority of British houses... or at least, the vast majority of those built just pre- and post-war. Another American housing term never ever used in Britain is 'condominium'... what the hell is that??? - Ian B |
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02 Jan 02 - 06:43 PM (#620104) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: artbrooks A condominium (aka condo) is basically an apartment owned by the occupant, in a setting with several dozen/several hundred other condos. The owner is generally said to own everything from the interior paint in. Ownership includes access to common areas such as swimming pools, clubhouses, and so forth, and there is generally a monthly fee for upkeep of the common areas. A subset of the condo is the townhouse, which has more than one floor. |
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03 Jan 02 - 03:40 AM (#620265) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Cappuccino Ah, right. Thanks. Cultural differences continue to abound! - Ian B |
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03 Jan 02 - 04:31 AM (#620273) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Skipjack K8 My sister used to live in Fulham, at the time a down at heel area of central London. Playing a little loose with the boundary, she claimed to live in West West Chelsea. Skipjack |
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03 Jan 02 - 08:09 AM (#620303) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: John P I read an article a couple of years ago about the practice of making up place names. A lot of developers want to have their new places sound historical, so they come up with names like "Carter's Mill" when there was neither a mill there nor anyone named Carter. Sadly, most of these places had actual names that the locals used, but that didn't have the kind of "charm" the developers were looking for. The article was about how we are replacing our history with phrases that are really just advertising slogans. On the other hand, I live in the Wedgwood district of Seattle, a charming old neighborhood of mostly single family homes and a sleepy strip of businesses. Its name was made up by a housing developer who built a bunch of houses there in the '50s. The name is now the official designation of an area about ten times larger than the original development. On the other other hand, I don't have a clue what the area was called before the '50s, or if it was called anything. I should try to find out. John Peekstok |
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03 Jan 02 - 10:52 AM (#620371) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Mr Red condominium we call them a "block of flats" and it is not considered chique unless it was converted from an Victorian industrial complex. don't like either term but apartment is not that much better. I live in a semi - and also live in the next-door neighbour's door slamming noises. When the vibrations come through the floor you know there is something he has not sorted-out from his childhood. What's in a name - like childish? |
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03 Jan 02 - 11:03 AM (#620379) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: CapriUni Of course, this is not a new phenomenon... if I recall my history correctly, Eric the Red was the one to come up with the name "Greenland" in order to entice others to come an colonize the place... |
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03 Jan 02 - 11:11 AM (#620383) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Fibula Mattock Last year there was a spate of building going on in South Belfast along the Anadale Embankment (the road running off Ormeau along the Lagan). They were building "nice" luxury apartments, but for some reason these apartments were slap-bang in the middle of the grassy area where people from the Anadale flats build their 11th July bonfires. Anyway, they stuck up this HUGE billboard just before the proposed site with some fancy swirly font spelling out the name of the development, and a picture of a couple lying on a bed in their dream home, gazing at each other with tender love in their eyes, and the slogan "A new erection by (developer's name)". Cracked me up every time I saw it. |
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03 Jan 02 - 11:19 AM (#620388) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Fibula Mattock CapriUni - yeah, one of my lecturers insisted that the name Greenland was given to encourage people to the desolate land, and the name "Iceland" was to deter everyone cos the Vikings wanted it for themselves. |
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03 Jan 02 - 02:46 PM (#620471) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,petr my friend lives in a complex near False Creek (Vancouver) called Leg-In-Boot Square with street names like Bucketwheel Road. on another note, a lot of developments in recent years have been named after tv shows like Beverly 90210 etc. which must be really dumb especially when some of the shows are long cancelled. Petr |
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03 Jan 02 - 03:04 PM (#620484) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Willa Took a quick look in tonight's property guide in the local paper and found 'Sovereign Fields', 'The Heathers', 'King's Wharfe', Regent's Meadow', 'Ruskin Gardens' and 'Sandringham Gardens'as the names of new developments! |
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03 Jan 02 - 05:32 PM (#620557) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: GUEST,shonaghlou hmm. well, i live in this tiny little village called plockton. i dont have a clue what it means because i just moved here. its near the isle of skye (and what is that mean to mean?!) if anyone has any interesting explanations for them, please go ahead! |
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04 Jan 02 - 04:02 AM (#620800) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Dave the Gnome I think the worse I saw was a typical (UK) 1960's semi named 'Rivendell'! On a more serious note local authorities around here are definitely making a mess of naming places. In Swinton (where I live - derived from Swine-town btw) a meadow owned by a certain Miss White and known for many years as Whites Meadow has had a old-folks home built on it. Name? White Meadows. Manchester council have also named the car park near the site of the infamous Peterloo masacre Peters Fields - pluralising the historic Peters Field for no apparanat reason. The site of the ill-fated Peterloo meeting was the large, but singular, field at the side of St Peters church. Only small points I know and I am probably being pedantic but in years to come people may wonder what is White about the home or why Peter owned so many of Manchesters green spaces;-) Cheers Dave the Gnome |
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04 Jan 02 - 05:23 AM (#620809) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: Crazy Eddie A friend of mine was very unimpressed when his next-door neighbour put up a wooden plaque "Dunroamin" on a terraced house in Croydon. We spent a pleasant evening inventing plaques my friend could put up in protest; the favourites included "Dunmurder" "Duntime" & "Dunporridge" (The last two mean "have spent time in jail" in case anyone is unfamiliar with the slang) Not as good as Pratchett's home of the Gods: "Dunmanifestin" |
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04 Jan 02 - 01:38 PM (#621011) Subject: RE: What's in a Name?? From: weepiper Hullo Shonaghlou, 'Plockton' is a kind of mixture of Gaelic and English (the -ton part is just 'town'). In Gaelic it's known as 'Ploc Loch Aillse' or just 'Am Ploc'. A 'ploc' is anything round and lumpy, in this case it refers to the headland or promontory, so it means 'Headland of Lochalsh' just up from the 'Kyle of Lochalsh'(Kyle = Caol, literally 'narrow', here referring to the channel between Skye and the mainland). The Isle of Skye is 'An t-Eilean Sgiathanach' and it's supposed to mean something like 'Winged Island' from the shape (?) or 'Island affording protection' or similar - there is a modern Gaelic word 'sgiath' which can mean wing or shield or piece of land sticking out into the sea... If you're interested a really good book about Scottish place names is 'The Celtic Place Names Of Scotland' by W.J. Watson, originally published in the twenties but still available in paperback. |