People from Indiana tell jokes about people from Kentucky, and they tell the exact jokes about us, ie: “How do you know Jesus wasn’t born in Kentucky/[Indiana]?”
A: You can’t find three wise men and a virgin.
The island Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, now part of Papua New Guinea, is famous as the site of a WWII battle. It is named for the French mathematician, explorer, and naval officer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who is the first European known to have visited the island. The genus of flowering plants Bougainvillea was also named for him, by the botanist who discovered it during the same expedition.
I didn’t know that until reading this thread, and had it been anywhere other than Chicago, I would have assumed that it was named because it was midway between landmarks. Instead, I assumed that it was named after the world’s first carnival midway which was in Chicago.
And, in fact, the term “midway,” related to carnivals, does come from Chicago, and the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Midway Plaisance, a public park on the south side of Chicago, was on the grounds of the Exposition, and was where the world’s first Ferris Wheel was located.
Midway Plaisance got its name because it was located in between, and connects, two other park areas (now known as Jackson Park and Washington Park).
Also, the Chicago Bears’ nickname “The Monsters of the Midway” comes from Midway Plaisance: the University of Chicago borders on Midway Plaisance, and the nickname was originally applied to the school’s football team. After U of C ended their football program, the nickname wound up being affixed to the Bears.
Anybody who isn’t familiar with it should look it up. That thing was impossibly huge. I would have thought Ferris Wheels would start out small, like at neighborhood carnivals, and scale up, getting bigger and bigger. Nope.
I didn’t present the actual Irish words I had in mind, because I didn’t think it would be meaningful to most people reading the thread. Specifically:
- bealach (meaning “way”) in its modified form bhealaigh, anglicised as “valley”
- móinteach (meaning “moor”) in its modified form móintigh [or alternatively móinte (meaning moors)], anglicised as “mount”
Together comprising a plausible English language placename Valleymount but in origin having nothing to do with either valleys or mountains.
cf. Moyvalley (Magh an bhealaigh); Mountmellick (Móinteach Mílic) as other examples of both elements being anglicised in this way.