# Is England's West Country more like the rich Southeast or the North?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-englands-west-country-more-like-the-rich-southeast-or-the-north/714257>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 5, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-englands-west-country-more-like-the-rich-southeast-or-the-north/714257 "2015-03-05T06:59:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-englands-west-country-more-like-the-rich-southeast-or-the-north/714257/21 "2015-03-06T13:07:16Z")

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A good example is the word “bairn” (child) in Scottish and Geordie. Although it’s extremely similar and cognate to the Scandinavian word “barn”, we have a word in standard English that’s also related to it - “born”.

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**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-englands-west-country-more-like-the-rich-southeast-or-the-north/714257/22 "2015-03-06T15:57:29Z")

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> [@mascaroni](#):
>
> Maybe not a tradition from the Industrial Revolution, but Cornish tin was exported all over Europe (and possibly further afield) since before the Romans arrived.

I did mention the mining landscape. But that’s what it is - mining. There’s no refining or manufacturing from the raw materials, it was all exported away.

> [@](#):
>
> How do you find the Cornish?

I cross the Tamar Bridge in the morning, and there they are.

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**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-englands-west-country-more-like-the-rich-southeast-or-the-north/714257/23 "2015-03-06T18:39:35Z")

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> [@Teuton](#):
>
> I did mention the mining landscape. But that’s what it is - mining. There’s no refining or manufacturing from the raw materials, it was all exported away.
> 
> I cross the Tamar Bridge in the morning, and there they are.

Tamar means “palm tree” in Hebrew, interestingly enough. I’ve always found it weird how similar Celtic and Middle Eastern languages sound.

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