lochs, bens, glens and the way things are named

Joanna Wolfe (919)677-0977 wolfe at oup-usa.org
Wed Aug 16 14:30:49 EDT 2000


When I lived in Scotland, I used to hang out with the folks at the School of Scottish Studies.  Edinburgh hosts a folk music festival each spring.  One of the singers had a song called "Leave Us Our Glens"

The song was about how everyone who wasn't Scottish was coming to Scotland and buying up the land making it unaffordable for the Scots to own anything.  The refrain went something like:

You can take our Lochs (translate: loch = lake)
and our Bens (translate: ben = hill, mountain)
But leave us our Glenns...
Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Glen Goyne...

(translate: glen = really good single malt whiskey, not a thicket where bambi lives)

Also, did you notice that there seems to be an overwhelming tendancy to name things after well known European places, but spell the name incorrectly.  

In Cary - Oxxford Hunt

In RTP - Edinbourough

grumble, grumble, grumble
 
Regards,

        Joanna

        Joanna Wolfe
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        Oxford University Press, USA
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><rant>
>Just West of Lochside Dr., East of Lochview Dr, Loch Cove La. and Loch
>Vale La., and NW of Lochberry La. is a body of water the town named
>"Lochmere Lake."
>
>loch; (Loch Lomond) from Scottish loch, lake
>mere; (mermaid), from Old English mere, sea, lake, pond; 
>
>"Lakelake Lake."
>
>They've got lakes but no city reservoir. I imagine this is the kind of
>forward-thinking urban planning that causes folks to openly mock the "town
>that developers built."
>I lived in Cary for thirty days a year ago, and in that time I saw five
>separate trophy wives in fives separate jog bra/stretch pant ensembles
>each struggling with her very own untrained dalmation. 
>
>Cary: Can't Afford Raleigh Yet
></rant>
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