Home » What Pegman Saw » What’s In a Name? – What Pegman Saw

What’s In a Name? – What Pegman Saw

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This week Pegman takes us to Gwynedd, Wales. This week’s location was suggested by regular Pegman storyteller Alicia Jamtaas. Be sure to visit her site and enjoy her flash fiction and poetry over at https://lishwriter.wordpress.com/   Thanks for the great suggestion, Lish!

Your mission is to visit the region via Google Maps, and write (up to) 150 words inspired by the prompt. You can use the photo above, or browse around for your own view anywhere in Gwynedd. There are plenty of photo spheres around Caernarfon Castle, and both street view and photo spheres all over Gwynedd.

Once your piece is polished, you can share it with others using the linkup below. Reading and commenting on others’ work is part of the fun!

I, on the other hand, totally did NOT go to Gwynedd… Because Karen and Josh are not mean and allow us to stray… And because once an idea planted… I could not unplant it.  I am submitting this quickly before work so will be reading the other participants’ versions later this evening.  Hope you enjoy my silly attempt!

What’s in a Name?

Honestly, I know nothing about Wales.  Well, wait a minute, I do know Richard Burton, Tom Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones come from there.

You DO know that it is part of the United Kingdom, right?

WEll duh!  I know that much.  That, and they have that ridiculously long town name.  What up with that?

You mean:  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooll-llandus-ilio-gogo-goch)?

Are you kidding me?  You can actually pronouce it?  Why, oh why would they do such a thing? And what the hell does it mean?

It roughly translates to:  “St Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave”.  And it was a publicity stunt in the 1860’s

Kinda silly if you ask me.

Don’t worry, though, it goes by the name Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.

Like that’s any easier to pronounce.  You know this, how?

I Saw it on PBS!

60 thoughts on “What’s In a Name? – What Pegman Saw”

  1. OMW, I’m dying! That’s hilarious. The weatherman didn’t miss a beat. I’m surprised he didn’t sprain his tongue. Thanks for this delightful little reflection on Wales!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Dear Dale,

    Silly? No indeed. I agree with Karen. That weatherman had to have practiced. Yeesh. Thought Chinese was hard. They got nothing on the Welsh. And leave us not forget my mother’s favourite Welshman, Tom Jones. 😉 Very enjoyable piece.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rochelle,

      He had to practice it, Welsh or not! They do love their consonants, don’t they! Of course I didn’t… named him second (went by order of age… 😉 )

      Hope you’re having a fabulous day!

      Dale

      Like

  4. Q,

    All things considered, it beats the hell out of Hoboken. I wonder if the bakeries are just as good?

    I think this town name would explode my spell check. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. And as far as that weatherman, it pays to hire a linguist in other countries. Here in the states, we only ask that they can forecast the weather. Hells . . not even that.

    Smart and witty plunge, m’dear! I’m glad I joined you for church.

    Peace and alphabet-ville

    Liked by 1 person

    • B,

      Seriously. I wonder. Maybe I’ll have to dig deeper into Llanfairpwll…..etc. et al and such 😉

      Yours and mine both. Actually, mine just said WTF? And didn’t even bother underlining it. Probably said: You’re on your own, woman, with this one.

      Glad you enjoyed my “I don’t know what to write about Wales post”…

      Peace and consonants with a few vowels thrown in just for the hell of it.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Laugh out LOUD! I feel lazy abbreviating that now. Its like, if I lived in that town, I would have to come up with a nickname the postmaster would be cool with. I can’t imagine he’d be cool with it though. I’d be a short term resident . . .
        Pretty dang swell for something that came to you when you didn’t know what to write about. Yes, I said swell. I miss that word.

        Peace and spelling bees

        Liked by 1 person

        • So very glad I made you Laugh out LOUD. Yeah, given my post, LOL just won’t do 😉 They actually do have more than one nickname for the place…
          I thank you. Swell is indeed a great word.

          Peace and love for a town that basically calls itself by what it is

          Liked by 1 person

  7. I’ve been waiting for ages to find an excuse to use that name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch And now you’ve done it. Shucks to all my research. Oh, okay, I forgive you. I like the way you’ve slipped it in.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Haha! A lovely entertaining post, and you’re very close to Gwynedd. Ynys Mon is only the other side of the Menai Strait. That weatherman was awesome, but I suspect he may have lived in Wales – the inflection was right as well as the pronunciation (as far as I could tell)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks Penny! So glad I made you laugh and … I’ll be darned! I was so focused on finding that town with the ridiculously long name, I didn’t even bother finding out how close it was to the prompt!
      Sounded good to me 😉

      Like

  11. Ah, did you see the happy gleam in little Liam Dutton’s eye when he pulled that one off! I love how Welsh place names are basically directions – very practical when you think about it! The only Welsh I know was taught to me by my Welsh mother in law and that’s ‘Ych a fi’ (yuckuvee) that means … YUCK! A fun take on the prompt, Dale – you had me smiling

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Apart from town names like Caerdydd (Cardiff) and Abertawe (Swansea), the only Welsh I know is for the motorway services (Gwasanaethau). Yep, I learned all my Welsh from driving in Wales 🙂 The same goes for Irish and Cornish too… and I can’t actually pronounce any of them.
    Fun 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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