Not too long ago I did a post about names of cities and what the citizens of those cities were called. For example, people from Manchester are called Mancunians; people from Liverpool are called Liverpudlians; people from Brimingham are called Brummies; people from Newcastle are called Geordies, etc.
I was challenged in a comment of that post by my friend Catherine to see if I could find out where Leodensians and Cantabrians are from. At first I thought she meant Cantabrigians, one that I actually had heard before. But no, she had it right.
I am pretty sure I have the answers (finally!), but only after I was perusing the names of Rugby teams and their nicknames (I know Catherine is an avid rugby fan.) I'm sure this was just lucky, because of course she was only talking about the cities, since that was the subject of the original post.
It won't be fair to let you guess if you are British, so I will just go ahead and tell what I think the two cities are. Incidentally, just going by the Rugby logos, one of these would have been from New Zealand. But I'm sure she was talking only about the UK.
And so, I guess:
1. Leodensians are people from Leeds, and
2. Cantabrians are people from Canterbury.
Am I right, Catherine?
Oh, and Cantabrigians are from .... ?
And I just LOVE that Catherine is a Taffy, born and bred.
Ok, I won't make you look that one up either. Catherine was born on the banks of the River Taff in Cardiff.
In America, btw, we PULL taffy. Do you?
Never mind.
"finaly!".. I like it.
ReplyDeleteOh and I have no idea if your right, but I've also never heard it by cities either, always thought it was just states and countries. Naming yourself by city seems just silly to me.
Hi Chica. But it's fun! We do it too, you know. I think I will do short post tomorrow on American cities. Love your new look. I have enjoyed the gradual transition. :)
ReplyDeleteCestrians for people who live in Chester. From the Latin you know ;)
ReplyDeleteYellowbellies from Lincolnshire, is that better?
Leodensians is almost never used to refer, in general, to people from Leeds, (I'm from Leeds)...
ReplyDeleteLeeds was, in ages past, known variously as Loidis, or Leodis, ummm, oh, about 12th century, I think... ish.
But the Rugby team of 'old boys' (past pupils) of Leeds Grammar School call themselves the Leodensians. I went to Roundhay School in Roundhay, north-east Leeds. The old boy's rugby club there are 'Roundhegians'.
Roundhay, by the way, gets its name from the round-hägg, (pron hedge), which was there in ancient times to form an enclosure in the forest of Elmete, into which animals were driven by hunters.
The aforementioned rugby clubs are largely populated by those who went to grammar schools.
Hence the mock latin names.. Leodensians, Roundhegians, Thornensians, Hullensians.
An old, and also mostly obsolete epithet for leeds men was 'Leeds Loiners', why, I don't know.
Leeds loiners are a subdivision of 'Yorkshire Tykes'. We display northern grit. not for nothing do we say "Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bred, Strong in't arm, Weak in 't head"
Taffy, as a name for welshpersons, is also a corruption of the welsh name Dafydd, (David)
ReplyDeleteYeah highlighting American cities would be good, but I'd look for the least obvious cities, that'd be fun. Thanks for the compliments. :)
ReplyDeleteSobriequet - now I have to rewrite the whole book. Kidding - I'll just leave out the nickname chapter.
ReplyDeleteA.- Cestrians? Ok, I'll bite: where the hell is Chester? Yes, Yellowbellies is better. But I don't think I believe either one of you now. I am switching to American cities.
Chica, I only found two. Actually, I only found two before I became bored and started watching TV instead. But I will post those two and expect you to come up with five more. And don't say New Yorkers. :)
Ya lazy bugger, here's a good resource.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/hall/8701/townname.htm
Thanks to Google for that. I'll have you know that if you look for Idaho, there are NO funny city names here. I'm a step above them all! Muahaha
Chester? Fairly near Liverpool, but a cut above you understand :) Lovely old city. And before anyone shouts at me for suggesting Liverpool isn't lovely, I know Liverpool well. It does have its good points I grant you but lovely - no.
ReplyDeleteChica, yeah. I'll be sure to use that resource now that you have given it to the whole world. :)
ReplyDeleteSure there are funny ones for Idaho. Women from Idaho are known as Ida ho's. No?
I can't find any on my own. So I am going to do a little America quiz instead. I have to do that every once in a while, just to keep Sobriquet modest. :)
I love this sort of thing. We don't really have an equivalent in America, I am fairly sure, and more's the pity. For instance, I am originally from Augusta [an Augustan] and now I am from Atlanta [an Atlantan]. Yawn. I like to tell people though that I live right near the county line. I spent my first 5 years here as a Gwinetian [from Gwinnett County] and now I am a DeKalbatross - from DeKalb County. LOL I call people in Alpharetta the Alprettites. I don't think they see the humor...
ReplyDeleteDoggy bag simply not known in the UK? You've been misinformed, we've been using the term for years, possibly decades, though a lot of restaurants don't have them and instead you have to use a napkin to take away leftovers [for the dog].
ReplyDeleteAnd no, beer isn't called lager in Britain [or was that a joke?], we do have lager, imported German variety, but we invented beer FFS! Back in the middle ages, before the Elizabethans discovered America, there was also small beer, that is, a weak beer which was drunk during the day due to the water being dodgy/unsafe, thus giving us the term small beer - something of little importance. We have so many beers that no pub could possibly stock more than a small percentage. Some pubs specialise in real ale [beer], that's beer which hasn't been made with preservatives and injected gas, but is brewed in old, traditional ways and delivered in oak barrels. I know all this despite not being a frequenter of pubs or even much of a beer drinker! And as for anyone expecting waitress service in a pub or bar ... I'm gobsmacked!