Floating down to Camelot

Last night, we did the Sporcle quiz on the 50 most common street names in the UK. (It's here, should anyone want to do it now without reading half the answers below.)

I was not at all surprised that High Street was the most common, but was very surprised to see that Main Street was third. I think of Main Street as being an American name, and I don't think I've ever noticed a Main Street in Britain. Perhaps I've just assumed that High Streety roads are called High Street, and haven't noticed that many are actually Main Streets. However, I've suddenly got a sneaking feeling that Main Street might be a more common term in Scotland…

I was interested to see that North Street was 24th, West Street 26th, South Street 42nd and East Street not placed. I wonder why this is. Why is north that much more notable that east?

The quiz counted "Church Road" as different from "Church Lane," so you had to type in all possible combinations. What's the difference between a Street and a Road? A Lane sounds smaller and more rural, so I'm not surprised that Mill Lane appears, but Mill Street and Mill Road don't. Station Road is second on the list, but there is no Station Lane or Station Street. I think a road, to me, suggests something that takes you from A to B, so Station Road would take me to the station, in the same way that London Road would (eventually) take me to London. London Lane would just be silly. But Victoria Road wouldn't take me to see Victoria. I suppose names that commerate bigwigs, royals and battles are as likely to be on roads as on streets. Do new housing estates have streets, or are streets confined to established main roads and town centres?

Muse, muse…

I was musing on the place name issue in bed, and have come to half-asleep conclusions that you will probably all now tell me are common knowledge, but they seemed profound at half past six.

I have only just consciously noticed that places where "Celtic" languages have survived into modern times tend to put the generic geographic term first in their place names, whereas in England the norm is the other way round. We have Ben Nevis, but Cleeve Hill. We have Portree, but Stockport. (Look in a British road atlas for places starting with "port" and almost all of them are in Cornwall, Wales or Scotland. Portsmouth doesn't count, I think, since in the case of both Portsmouth and Portchester, the second part of the name is also a generic geographic term: "the mouth of the port", "the camp at the port.") We have Loch Ness and Lochaber, but Bassenthwaite Lake and Windermere. There's Aberystwyth ("aber" meaning mouth of as river) but Exmouth.

This also applies when when the generic geographic term is an archaic word which has become part of the place name - e.g. Whitby, Winchester, Nottingham. What I find interesting, though, is that centuries after English-speaking people have meant "the homestead of the people of Snot" when they say "Nottingham", they still stress it so that the unique part ("of Snot") is the important part, not the "homestead of the people of", which is shared with other towns.

I've been musing about the names that children call adults - or, indeed, the names that adults call other adults. (No, I don't mean the rude ones they call them behind their back.)

( Names )

I used to collect interesting titles (i.e. noble titles, names of offices etc.) that I found in history books, but I've long since lost my list. I do remember deciding that "Lord of the Isles" was a wonderful title to have, back when I was about 10. On holiday in Skye last year, visiting the traditional home of the Lords of the Isles, I was delighted to read about their interactions with the King of Man. I also remember that the Ottomans have some pretty great titles. "Margrave of the Horizons" was one I particularly liked.

Today, though, I heard a quote from the "Shadow Immigration Secretary", and I think this is the best of all. I just love the idea of him standing there at the ports, making sure we don't end up with more shadows in Britain than we ought to have. "One man, one shadow!" is the rallying cry. Let too many in, and all our decent British shadows will be out of work, floating in limbo without a body to attach themselves to. And what about those poor people back in Poland, etc., whose shadows have all flooded here? They have rights, too.

Which leads me onto Baldur's Gate, by something that really is a sequitur, honest. ("Shadows! Aren't they those things in BG that say...? No. That's doppelgangers. Er... I think...") I was trying the other day to remember all the BG baddy catch-phrases, and find that I've forgotten most of them. I know a few people on my Friends list have played it as obsessively as I have in the past, so any help...?

I remember "I kicked him in the head until he was dead - ha ha!" (bandits.) Someone (hobgoblins?) say "Forward march!" Depressed miners say "Get me out of this hell-hole!", which is very quotable and often apt. I used to swear blind that doppelgangers said "Time to f-lay some flesssh!" and "Your time has come, primates", and "This time is our time!" but I seem to remember that most of these were proved wrong on a replay.