Rude Britain
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Rude Britain (subtitled 100 Rudest Place Names in Britain) is a 2005 book of humour and toponymy.[1] The book (ISBN 0-7522-2581-2) is written by Rob Bailey and Ed Hurst, and published in the United Kingdom by the Pan Macmillan imprint Boxtree.
Each of the 100 names chosen by the authors is accompanied by a photograph and a placename etymology. The etymologies are often due to the island's history of repeated invasion, occupation, and assimilation, combined with a human predilection for double entendres.
Top 30
The following is the list of the top 30 names from the book, many of which are street names and most of which incorporate body part or sexual slang:
- Horse Cock, Cornwall
- Minge Lane, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England
- Bell End, Worcestershire, England
- Twatt, Shetland (note, there is another Twatt in Orkney)
- Sandy Balls, a long-established holiday centre in New Forest, Hampshire, England with a name dating back to Henry VIII
- Fingringhoe, Essex, England
- Back Passage, City of London, an alleyway in the EC1 postal district
- Shitterton, Dorset, England
- Slag Lane, Merseyside, a residential street in Haydock, England
- Hole of Horcum, North York Moors, England
- Fanny Hands Lane, Lincolnshire, England
- Inchinnan Drive, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- Cockshoot Close, Oxfordshire, England
- Funbag Drive, Watford, England
- Fanny Avenue, Derbyshire, England
- Beaver Close, Surrey, England
- Dick Court, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Felch Square, Powys, Wales
- Lickfold, West Sussex, England
- Rimswell, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
- Spanker Lane, Nether Heage, Derbyshire
- Cocknmouth Close, West End, Surrey
- Friars' Entry, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
- Butt Hole Road, Conisbrough, South Yorkshire
- Cockermouth, Allerdale, Cumbria
- Fine Bush Lane, Ruislip
- Ladygate Lane, Ruislip
- Hornyold Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, England
- Crotch Crescent, Marston, Oxford, England
- Cumming Court, Pitville, Gloucestershire, England
Other entries include North Piddle (from the Old English word pidele, meaning marsh), Pratt's Bottom, Ugley, Titty Ho, and Spital-in-the-Street (a hamlet in Lincolnshire with a name based on the Middle English spitel, meaning hospital). Gropecunt Lane in Oxford has been renamed "Magpie Lane". There is also the tenuous Pantigelli, near Abergavenny, which needs the 'g' to be pronounced incorrectly as a 'j' to understand its appearance on this page.
See also
External links
References
- ^ Lyall, Sarah (January 22, 2009). "No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
Ed Hurst, a co-author, with Rob Bailey, of "Rude Britain" and "Rude UK," which list arguably offensive place names — some so arguably offensive that, unfortunately, they cannot be printed here — said that many such communities were established hundreds of years ago and that their names were not rude at the time.
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