Posted by Robert Dilley on May 12, 2004 at 18:17:23 from 65.39.13.79 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: New Frequently Asked Questions pages posted by Jon on May 12, 2004 at 12:46:03:
"Context" would be my answer. It might be possible to think of a phrase where the qualifier "Lake" would be needed before "Windermere", but not, I suspect, a phrase likely to be in common use.
"I went for a sail on Windermere"; "We stayed at a lovely B&B in Windermere"; "What is the population of Windermere?". There doesn't seem to be a lot of scope for ambiguity.
I live (just outside) the City of Thunder Bay, on the shore of the indentation of Lake Superior also (and for much longer) called Thunder Bay. No-one has seemed to need to ask me if I live in the lake (which I wouldn't care to, as it never gets much above freezing temperature all year).
So I shall keep on proudly wearing my pedant's cap and insist that the "Lake" in "Lake Windermere" is redundant and grates on me in the same way that "Six a.m. in the morning" does.