Sunday, 17 July 2016

Sunday Rest: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychgwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Word Not To Use Today.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychgwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a Word Not To Use Today?

Well, that's a relief.

Word Not To Use Today: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychgwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. 
This is the name of a village on the island of Angelsey in North Wales. The railway station famously displays the full name, but generally shortened ones are used for practical purposes, for example Llanfair PG. Llanfair etc means, in Welsh, St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool of Llandisilio of the red cave.

If you did want to use it, it's pronounced like THIS:

The terrific thing is that in 2001 over 70% of the population of Llanfair PG spoke Welsh, and of them 97.1% of the 10 - 14 year-olds were Welsh speakers. 

The name was invented in the 1860s for promotional purposes.

By the way, the name has 58 characters, but only 51 letters, ch and ll both counting as a single letter in Welsh.


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