There are some places that bizarrely have the same name. Places that obviously are not named after each other (like so many places where colonies were planted were named)
There is a Vyborg in both Russia and Denmark, Brest in France and Belarus, Galicia in Spain and Ukraine, Thebes in Greece and Egypt, Iberia in Iberia and Georgia, Albania in Albania and Georgia, Caen and Cannes in France.
It feels a bit like a Scotsman going to Japan would feel like if he found a small village called "Edinburgh".
The Galicias are related, though.
You didn't even mention perhaps the most famous one - the state of Georgia and the nation of Georgia.
That was something I found funny when I toured around Scotland many years ago. There are a great many places in Canada that were directly named after places in Scotland, but in the time since those connections have been long forgotten. I used to live very close to a little hamlet in Alberta named Mallaig. I had no idea that it was named after a Scottish fishing village of the same name. Mallaig, AB being thousands of kms inland was nothing at all like Mallaig, Scotland.
Well with the Egypt thing the Greeks gave named both places. The Egyptians called it something different.
Ah Swedish Viborg, for centuries bulwark of the west against the hordes of the east... :wistful:
Now Slavs pick through the ruins of a once great civilization. :(
There's loads in the British Isles-US. See the beautiful town of Baltimore in Cork:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore,_County_Cork
What's weird is when I come across a British town whose name I knew because of its more famous American cousin. For example I remember meeting someone from Boston, Lincolnshire which I had no idea existed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire
Similarly there's a by-election going on in Newark, which again I didn't realise was a British town:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark-on-Trent
All of these make sense and I realise I probably should expect any famous American city to have a British counterpart but they both surprised me when I heard them for the first time.
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 26, 2014, 03:56:12 PM
There's loads in the British Isles-US. See the beautiful town of Baltimore in Cork:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore,_County_Cork
What's weird is when I come across a British town whose name I knew because of its more famous American cousin. For example I remember meeting someone from Boston, Lincolnshire which I had no idea existed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire
Similarly there's a by-election going on in Newark, which again I didn't realise was a British town:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark-on-Trent
All of these make sense and I realise I probably should expect any famous American city to have a British counterpart but they both surprised me when I heard them for the first time.
Some of these may be the result of colonialism.
Quote from: Ideologue on May 26, 2014, 03:46:10 PM
The Galicias are related, though.
How so? AFAIK the Ukranian one is a latinization of a local slavic name, which in turn comes from an obscure steppe tribe from the High middle ages (paging Spellus!) that had links with the Magyars and Khazars. My Galicia comes from the latinized name of a Celtic tribe that settled here before the Romans came.
Probably very few of those are what Vikes means by totally unrelated. Pretty much everywhere in the US is named after a place on another continent as mentioned above or just use the previous names the natives had for it. Grafton, Mass was named after a street in Dublin. There's a Cairo in Illinois FFS. :P
AU/NZ/CA, same thing.
Georgia/Georgia might be a good one.
Something like Waterford has an obvious explanation why two unrelated places might share it. Just geographical similarities. Those are probably the most common.
As expected, there are loads of cities in the Americas named after Spanish ones. Just in the US off the top of my head there's Toledo, Laredo and Albuquerque. There's a county in Indiana with the same name than my hometown, but the origin is unrelated.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on May 26, 2014, 04:33:04 PM
Something like Waterford has an obvious explanation why two unrelated places might share it. Just geographical similarities. Those are probably the most common.
One of my favourite places to go in Whitehorse was a little lake outside of town called Fish Lake.
How many lakes are named Fish Lake around the world? :lol:
Hell - I just found that Wiki has a (very long) list of some of them!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_named_Fish_Lake
Quote from: The Larch on May 26, 2014, 04:28:02 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on May 26, 2014, 03:46:10 PM
The Galicias are related, though.
How so? AFAIK the Ukranian one is a latinization of a local slavic name, which in turn comes from an obscure steppe tribe from the High middle ages (paging Spellus!) that had links with the Magyars and Khazars. My Galicia comes from the latinized name of a Celtic tribe that settled here before the Romans came.
I thought Galicia was also named after Gauls. Maybe I'm confusing it with Galatia in Asia Minor. -_-
Quote from: Barrister on May 26, 2014, 04:39:19 PM
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on May 26, 2014, 04:33:04 PM
Something like Waterford has an obvious explanation why two unrelated places might share it. Just geographical similarities. Those are probably the most common.
One of my favourite places to go in Whitehorse was a little lake outside of town called Fish Lake.
How many lakes are named Fish Lake around the world? :lol:
Hell - I just found that Wiki has a (very long) list of some of them!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_named_Fish_Lake
There is a similar problem in iceland where almost all the rivers in the country are named either
Llaxá (http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lax%C3%A1) or Jökulsá (http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6kuls%C3%A1) with the significant difference being that the Laxás are from rain water (and consequently have fish in them) while the Jökulsás are glacial run-offs and have periodic flash floods that wash all vegitation and animal life in the river into the ocean, and consequently have no fish. As all Jews know Lax is icelandic for Salmon.
The one I found funny as a kid was turkey and Peru, because Peru is name of a turkey (bird) in Portuguese.
I think it's kinda weird that Arras is a town in France, and yet it's my German grandfather's name, and the name goes as far back as 938 AD in Baden-Württemberg, which used to have its own Arras Festival back in the day. Other than regional bleed-over over the centuries, never quite figured out how all that came together.
It's Viborg. :mad:
And they might not be named after each other but surely after the same thing, Выборг must've been founded by vikings at least Viborg was. Vi is probably norse for some shit and borg is fort.
All three cities named Paris that I know up have Eiffel Towers. It's pretty hard to tell the difference:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYjUxEU7h8irExlvCc0UDMCUOvvNRq-WwXUonSP9_UXIlOdLRvUA)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F0%2F01%2FParisTNEiffel.jpg%2F250px-ParisTNEiffel.jpg&hash=dc6372324466ddc35094c015d8f75f117a386207)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetware.com%2Fphotos-large%2FF%2Feiffel-tower.jpg&hash=46be0fbec78bf583ed3f406a2d7136cfd2a3d1ea)
:P
E: That guy who flew under there while in the process of shooting down a German (who also flew under there) who just died recently.....that's crazy shit.
When I lived in Vancouver, I was very confused when people talked about "Washington" as if it was a nearby place. I thought they meant "Washington DC".
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 26, 2014, 03:56:12 PM
There's loads in the British Isles-US. See the beautiful town of Baltimore in Cork:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore,_County_Cork
What's weird is when I come across a British town whose name I knew because of its more famous American cousin. For example I remember meeting someone from Boston, Lincolnshire which I had no idea existed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire
Well Baltimore was named for the Baron of Baltimore so, you know, that is natural. Boston was one of the centers of Puritanism in England, where many of the Puritans who founded the American Boston had come from.
Quote from: Barrister on May 26, 2014, 03:50:40 PM
You didn't even mention perhaps the most famous one - the state of Georgia and the nation of Georgia.
Once in France I left my Georgia driver's license as a deposit. The lady I gave it to was like "Oh wow, Georgia, how exciting!" I was completely confused why she thought being from Georgia was interesting, until I realized she probably thought I was from the country.
Quote from: Liep on May 26, 2014, 07:27:08 PM
It's Viborg. :mad:
And they might not be named after each other but surely after the same thing, Выборг must've been founded by vikings at least Viborg was. Vi is probably norse for some shit and borg is fort.
Swedish (now Russian :yuk:) Viborg was founded in 1293.
Georgia and Georgia are both named, directly and indirectly, after Saint George. Georgia in Georgian is Sakartvelo.
Quote from: Monoriu on May 26, 2014, 09:10:27 PM
When I lived in Vancouver, I was very confused when people talked about "Washington" as if it was a nearby place. I thought they meant "Washington DC".
So what about Vancouver, Washington?
A friend of mine was travelling in New Zealand last year. Loads of the towns she passed through had Japanese sounding names. Its just one of those things that Maori and Japanese happen to sound the same.
Zealand and Zeeland always annoy me.
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 26, 2014, 03:56:12 PM
There's loads in the British Isles-US. See the beautiful town of Baltimore in Cork:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore,_County_Cork
What's weird is when I come across a British town whose name I knew because of its more famous American cousin. For example I remember meeting someone from Boston, Lincolnshire which I had no idea existed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire
Similarly there's a by-election going on in Newark, which again I didn't realise was a British town:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark-on-Trent
All of these make sense and I realise I probably should expect any famous American city to have a British counterpart but they both surprised me when I heard them for the first time.
Boston seemed very strange to me too when I first discovered its existance (maybe when I was a teenager?).
I guess it is because Boston doesn't have a football team that I'd missed hearing about it before despite it being a pretty big place. :lol:
I remember being amused as a kid to discover that old Jersey was a tiny island with cows.
If only New Jersey was just full of new cows.
New York and York are no problem. People always say the full New York. New Jersey though....bah. People always knock off the New. I recall a few early internet encounters with people who claimed to be from Jersey but to have never been to Europe.
The first postmaster here was from Australia; hence Melbourne, Florida. :outback:
My brother once worked in North Carolina. The locals referred to Washington, NC was "Little Washington" and Washington DC was "Big Washington."
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 08:00:25 AM
Boston seemed very strange to me too when I first discovered its existance (maybe when I was a teenager?).
I guess it is because Boston doesn't have a football team that I'd missed hearing about it before despite it being a pretty big place. :lol:
There is a Cleveland in england as well. Not to mention a whole bunch of Springfields.
Quote from: Savonarola on May 27, 2014, 10:06:47 AM
My brother once worked in North Carolina. The locals referred to Washington, NC was "Little Washington" and Washington DC was "Big Washington."
:lol: GOD BLESS AMERICA
Quote from: Viking on May 27, 2014, 10:43:08 AM
There is a Cleveland in england as well. Not to mention a whole bunch of Springfields.
It was only a few years ago I learned about the existance of an American Cleveland.
I've never encountered a Springfield in the UK.
I live near the original Washington. It is Washington; DC is Washington, America; Washington State is something most normal people aren't really aware of, the stuff of pub quizzes.
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 10:57:56 AM
It was only a few years ago I learned about the existance of an American Cleveland.
Sorry :(
But at least you had those blissful years not knowing of it. I'm jealous.
Quote from: derspiess on May 27, 2014, 11:03:00 AM
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 10:57:56 AM
It was only a few years ago I learned about the existance of an American Cleveland.
Sorry :(
But at least you had those blissful years not knowing of it. I'm jealous.
Unlike the poor citizens of that blighted place...
but then again there is Birmingham....
Quote from: Savonarola on May 27, 2014, 10:06:47 AM
The first postmaster here was from Australia; hence Melbourne, Florida. :outback:
My brother once worked in North Carolina. The locals referred to Washington, NC was "Little Washington" and Washington DC was "Big Washington."
There is a "Little Washington" in Virginia as well. Washington, VA is older than Washington, DC, 70 miles away. There used to be an actual "Little Washington" in Loudon County Virginia, also about 50 miles from DC, where the former slaves from the Washington family settled, but it was never incorporated.
Quote from: Viking on May 27, 2014, 11:08:17 AM
but then again there is Birmingham....
I genuinely don't know which is worse.
Cleveland is worse.
Caen and Cannes are definitively not the same name. The former is probably of celtic origin while the latter is of occitan origin (Canas).
Quote from: derspiess on May 27, 2014, 11:03:00 AM
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 10:57:56 AM
It was only a few years ago I learned about the existance of an American Cleveland.
Sorry :(
But at least you had those blissful years not knowing of it. I'm jealous.
Well its chief export is crippling depression.
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 27, 2014, 02:50:25 PM
Caen and Cannes are definitively not the same name. The former is probably of celtic origin while the latter is of occitan origin (Canas).
Are they even pronounced the same? I always thought Caen was Cay-en, Cannes was Can.
Well, if we're talking "always" when I was kid I thought it was "Cans," but I also thought it was "Versalese."
Quote from: Ideologue on May 27, 2014, 02:56:47 PM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 27, 2014, 02:50:25 PM
Caen and Cannes are definitively not the same name. The former is probably of celtic origin while the latter is of occitan origin (Canas).
Are they even pronounced the same? I always thought Caen was Cay-en, Cannes was Can.
Cannes is Can. Caen is um...erm...hard to explain. It is an 'a' like father not ann.
Quote from: Valmy on May 27, 2014, 03:01:28 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on May 27, 2014, 02:56:47 PM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 27, 2014, 02:50:25 PM
Caen and Cannes are definitively not the same name. The former is probably of celtic origin while the latter is of occitan origin (Canas).
Are they even pronounced the same? I always thought Caen was Cay-en, Cannes was Can.
Cannes is Can. Caen is um...erm...hard to explain. It is an 'a' like father not ann.
IPA is your friend /kɑ̃/
It's a nasal vowel similar to ɔ̃/on for the Germans, among others.
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 27, 2014, 03:07:22 PM
IPA is your friend /kɑ̃/
It's a nasal vowel similar to ɔ̃/on for the Germans, among others.
IPA is fucking useless as a pronunciation guide. /kɑ̃/ is gibberish. Comparing it to other gibberish raises gibberish to gibberish to the power of gibberish.
Quote from: Ideologue on May 27, 2014, 02:56:47 PM
Are they even pronounced the same? I always thought Caen was Cay-en, Cannes was Can.
Caen sounds like kah with a honking noise at the end.
Quote from: Ideologue on May 27, 2014, 02:57:41 PM
Well, if we're talking "always" when I was kid I thought it was "Cans," but I also thought it was "Versalese."
Why on earth would you think "Cannes" was pronounced "Versalese"? I'd expect that level of stupid from, say, Timmay.
:D
I've pronounced them
Caen - Ka-ayn
Cannes - Kann
<insert Kirk image from Wrath of Cannes meme pic here>
Quote from: Savonarola on May 27, 2014, 10:06:47 AM
The first postmaster here was from Australia; hence Melbourne, Florida. :outback:
My brother once worked in North Carolina. The locals referred to Washington, NC was "Little Washington" and Washington DC was "Big Washington."
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.curbsideclassic.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F01%2Fbig-and-little-enos.jpg&hash=bc9d5951b73f9abebbde547877dff8590b747e51)
Quote from: derspiess on May 27, 2014, 11:03:00 AM
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 10:57:56 AM
It was only a few years ago I learned about the existance of an American Cleveland.
Sorry :(
But at least you had those blissful years not knowing of it. I'm jealous.
I hear it is hot there.
And....um.... Yeah
:lol:
Quote from: Viking on May 27, 2014, 08:26:35 PM
I've pronounced them
Caen - Ka-ayn
Cannes - Kann
Wrong
Right
When I was a kid I didn't understand the difference between Victoria, B.C and Victoriaville, QC.
I really wanted to go the commonwealth games.
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 08:00:25 AM
Boston seemed very strange to me too when I first discovered its existance (maybe when I was a teenager?).
I guess it is because Boston doesn't have a football team that I'd missed hearing about it before despite it being a pretty big place. :lol:
To be honest the whole of Lincolnshire's a mystery to me. With the exception of York, Hull and London I've never really been to the East of the Pennines. I have a rough idea what goes where but that's about it.
Also the Midlands are just a blob to me - Stoke, Northampton, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester? Could be anywhere :blink:
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 27, 2014, 10:12:49 PM
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 08:00:25 AM
Boston seemed very strange to me too when I first discovered its existance (maybe when I was a teenager?).
I guess it is because Boston doesn't have a football team that I'd missed hearing about it before despite it being a pretty big place. :lol:
To be honest the whole of Lincolnshire's a mystery to me. With the exception of York, Hull and London I've never really been to the East of the Pennines. I have a rough idea what goes where but that's about it.
Also the Midlands are just a blob to me - Stoke, Northampton, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester? Could be anywhere :blink:
Boggles the mind that people (aka you) can still be like that when your country is about the size of a postage stamp. :P
Quote from: garbon on May 27, 2014, 10:48:32 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 27, 2014, 10:12:49 PM
Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2014, 08:00:25 AM
Boston seemed very strange to me too when I first discovered its existance (maybe when I was a teenager?).
I guess it is because Boston doesn't have a football team that I'd missed hearing about it before despite it being a pretty big place. :lol:
To be honest the whole of Lincolnshire's a mystery to me. With the exception of York, Hull and London I've never really been to the East of the Pennines. I have a rough idea what goes where but that's about it.
Also the Midlands are just a blob to me - Stoke, Northampton, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester? Could be anywhere :blink:
Boggles the mind that people (aka you) can still be like that when your country is about the size of a postage stamp. :P
And I though it was Americans who were supposed to be bad at geography.
Meh, it's the geography of the modern world. I've never been to vast swathes of the uk but have been to a bunch of places outside the country.
Manchester is just as close (in terms of travel cost and time) to Amsterdam or Paris as it is to York,etc...
And why learn about the exact locations of unimportant towns you're never going to? Except for fun of course.
paradox taught me geography :)
Quote from: LaCroix on May 28, 2014, 11:19:51 PM
paradox taught me geography :)
Then your knowledge of Balkans geography is COMPLETELY WRONG AND STUPID.
Quote from: Valmy on May 27, 2014, 08:23:42 AM
I remember being amused as a kid to discover that old Jersey was a tiny island with cows.
Don't diss Jersey. It's one of the best places I've visited. Lush and green, fantastic beaches and French cuisine without French people.
Quote from: grumbler on May 27, 2014, 07:01:12 PM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 27, 2014, 03:07:22 PM
IPA is your friend /kɑ̃/
It's a nasal vowel similar to ɔ̃/on for the Germans, among others.
IPA is fucking useless as a pronunciation guide. /kɑ̃/ is gibberish. Comparing it to other gibberish raises gibberish to gibberish to the power of gibberish.
Linguists disagree.
Quote from: Norgy on May 29, 2014, 04:15:44 AM
Quote from: Valmy on May 27, 2014, 08:23:42 AM
I remember being amused as a kid to discover that old Jersey was a tiny island with cows.
Don't diss Jersey. It's one of the best places I've visited. Lush and green, fantastic beaches and French cuisine without French people.
Man you had me going until that. Why even bother going?
I have fantastic breeches without French people.