Posted by Robert Dilley on February 01, 1999 at 16:38:21:
In Reply to: Re: Un-Lake Windermere posted by Steve South on February 01, 1999 at 12:57:50:
Yes, but the point is I've TOLD you lot, so you have no excuse for going on saying "Lake Windermere"....
Is Steve a former student of mine? I use the Torpenhow example in my classes on toponyms, having lived for some years only a couple of miles from the place. Interestingly, the pronunuciation "Trepenna" is analogous to the genuine Southern Ontario "Tronna" (or "Trawna") for Toronto.
I was leafing though the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language on Saturday, wishing I could afford it, and came across (a) Adam Quinan's hypothesis that the word order of the Great Lakes derives from French influence and (b) an illustration captioned "Lake Buttermere" [sic]. Gad, is there no stopping the rot?
The above composed on the shores of what I suppose I must learn to call Thunder Bay Bay.