These, though, are official, accepted names and can be found on maps or via quick flurry on the computer keyboard using Google (other search engines are available).
What about unofficial names, though, that have entered local vocabularies?
National mapping agency the Ordnance Survey and charity the English Project are seeking to create some order here by putting together a directory of these quirky localisms.
The project is designed to celebrate the richness of English language, but also has a practical purpose - to help 999 operators who struggle when callers use names that do not appear on official maps.
Alternative names include:
- Manchester's Wilmslow Road, in Rusholme, known as ‘The Curry Mile’ because of its many Indian restaurants.
- The Festival Leisure Centre in Basildon, Essex, known as ‘Bas Vegas’ for its colourful nightlife and, on a similar theme, the Tameside town of Stalybridge known as ‘StalyVegas’.
- A street in Southampton branded the ‘Mutant Mile’.
- Swindon, in Wiltshire, known as 'Swindump'.
Bill Lucas, an author and trustee of the English Project, says: ‘We are throwing a very wide net in this national trawl for what we call Location Lingo.
‘Everyone knows the big national nicknames like Pompey for Portsmouth or Auld Reekie for Edinburgh, but we are more interested in the names that are not so well-known and might be used only by a neighbourhood, a village community, a workplace, or even by an extended family or group of friends.’
I grew up in the Midlands and one I always remember was ‘Cod’ for Nuneaton, Warwickshire. This term was generally used by folk from neighbouring Hinckley (over the border in Leicestershire) and, if memory serves, referred to a fish market that used take place in the town. I still hear friends using it today.
For more, see the Location Lingo website.
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