UK town bans "Cracknuts Lane" & other streets

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Like most governments, including ours, they're probably thinking they don't give a crap, as long as they get to feel somewhat important and powerful.

Place names in the UK are not necessarily more intellectual, just older. False etymology makes old roots appear to mean the wrong thing, and they're at least as likely to become offensive as they are to become sensical.

Language can change drastically over time. Also, there was once many many different versions of English. It was like India, a different language every 20 miles. What we speak is the form of English common in 12th century London. Other forms from that time are so radically different that they need to be translated, like the tale of Sir Gawain which was written in a provincial English that needs to be translated. The Gawain legend dates from the same time as Chaucer, but Chaucer was writing in London English while the unknown author of Gawain was not.

Anyway, when a place in England was named in a different form of English, and that word carries through to 2009 unchanged, it can seem odd. English cities often have street names that have remained the same for many centuries, unlike streets in the US which tend to change names often. They have become totally disconnected from the original meaning.

Even newer names in the US can have this happen-there's a street in Carson City, Nevada, named Phillips, but for decades nobody could agree on the number of l's in Phillips. Even some of the street signs said Philips until about 10 years ago. It took quite a bit of digging by the state archivist to uncover the existence of an early settler named Phillips (two l's) who owned a farm in the area. The street was named in the 1870s, apparently. Carson City then removed the one l street signs and replaced them with two l ones. If a street name that's barely 120 years old can have that problem, what about names in England that are 400 years old?

The NW of England's in big trouble then. Not only are towns / areas called things like Ramsbottom or Bottomley, but they are fairly common surnames as well.

I think the Vehicle licensing agency here did a classic as well a couple of years ago with vehicle registration plates. They decided to change the area code for Edinburgh from SN to TN as this, being linked with the year code 07 (SN07), might be misinterpreted as saying SNOT. Couldn't see it myself, but hey, there you go

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edi ... 897494.stm

I thought this was so funny, I love weird town names and street names.

There's a street in a village near me called High Back Side, and another called Low Back Side which was changed to Back Lane South to avoid references to saggy you-know-whats, LOL.

Oh NO!! ! Not SNOT!! !
What ever would Britain do with registration plates like those?! Why, it chills my bones just to think of it.

Still, "Back Lane South"...

This particular phenomenon however is peculiar to the English language, where there are at least as many offensive words as there are words at all.

I never thought about it like that, if you were to say a sentence you might say everyday you have a really good chance of offending someone.

there's a village near me with streets called "Bell End", "Back Way", "The Gap", and "Rotten Row"!

another village nearby is called Gayton, which has a Back Lane... you don't want to go up there late at night

and there used to be a village near here called "Buttocks Booth"! they had to change the name of that one!

why doesn't anyone see the comical side to this and instead worry about those with little or no sense of humour?

a village near where i live always has it's signs vandalised, one letter's removed whilst another two are changed slightly to make 'bald dick'. will they too ge the village re-named because it can be changed into something offensive? who knows.

Most people, if they want to, can change almost anything to sound dirty or offensive. I read in a book once that some teens changed Emergency Exit to Virgin Exit by scratching off letters, and I haven't a clue how they got that one! So any word can be made rude.

True, but have you also ever noticed that a whole lot of German words sound like naughty English ones? So much so, like I actually wondered if the English did some of their own words that way on purpose. But of course, that'd have to be a pretty ancient conspiracy. I mean, just say a couple sentences in German to a group of English-only people, and you're likely to make at least one person feel that you've thrown a personal insult in there somewhere. They've got syllables that sound like "hell", "damn", and a few of the naughtier words I'm not even allowed to write here.
Basil Fawlty to visiting Germans about their strange-sounding speech: "Oh, German! I'm sorry, I thought there was something wrong with you." I would enjoy learning to read and understand German, as it would allow me to greatly expand my book collection to a lot of really interesting ones I can't currently read, but I wouldn't personally enjoy speaking it. No offense to any native-tongued German speakers here.

Last edited by Ragtime on 08 Jan 2009, 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

We have to learn German at school, and I agree it sounds like English but weird. Personally, i don't enjoy learning German, I'm rubbish at it and I'm unlikely ever to go to Germany (maybe Switzerland, but hey). I'm looking forward to next year when I get to quit German and take Spanish instead. Language courses include an exchange trip to that country (Gran Canaria for Spanish), so that's why I really wanted to take a language.

Yes us British are pretty eccentric at the best of times. Here is a list of some other names..........still in existance!

Bless us! This political correctness is becoming unmanageable, stupid and pedantic!! Sorry JMO!
Ere you go a few more to make you.................giggle, I hope!

Cocks, Cornwall
Minge Lane,Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England
Bell End, Worcestershire, England
Twatt, Shetland (note, there is another Twatt in Orkney)
Sandy Balls, a long-established holiday centre in New Forest, Hampshire, England with a name dating back to Henry VIII
Muff (now Eglinton), County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Fingringhoe, Essex, England
Back Passage, City of London, an alleyway in the EC1 postal district
Shitterton, Dorset, England
Slag Lane, Merseyside, a residential street in Haydock, England
Hole of Horcum, North York Moors, England
Fanny Hands Lane, Lincolnshire, England
Inchinnan Drive, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Cockshoot Close, Oxfordshire, England
Funbag Drive, Watford, England
Fanny Avenue, Derbyshire, England
Beaver Close, Surrey, England
Dick Court, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Felch Square, Powys, Wales
Lickfold, West Sussex, England
Rimswell, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Spanker Lane, Nether Heage, Derbyshire
Cocknmouth Close, West End, Surrey
Friars' Entry, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Butthole Road, Conisbrough, South Yorkshire
Cockermouth, Allerdale, Cumbria
Fine Bush Lane, Ruislip
Ladygate Lane, Ruislip

Last edited by jelibean on 08 Jan 2009, 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.