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Poughkeepsie
I was reminded of 'From Elfland to Poughkeepsie', an essay by Le Guin about writing fantasy (it's in The Language of the Night, and I've just checked, there is a version of it online if you google). This made me ramble. I assume, from context, that Poughkeepsie (I have deliberately not looked it up) is a very dull and prosaic place in the USA. But for me, it's a place that I have only ever come across, so far as I am aware, in the context of that one essay.
Poughkeepsie:
weird looking sort of name, no idea what it means
Quite long, not sure how to pronounce it
Looks a bit Scottish maybe, with that 'sie' on the end?
Associations: Elfland. have vague idea it's in Virginia, which name I associate with Elizabeth I and dashing explorers in ruffs. (Edit: apparently this is incorrect. Oh well, all the best legends are vague on geography)
Elfland:
Name that I've grown up with in many different contexts
has an obvious meaning
easy to pronounce
Associations: Hollow Hills, hill forts, misfortune, 'elf arrows', Tolkien, Kipling and the Dymchurch Flit, Tam lin, as many traditional stories as you can shake a stick at.
From where I'm standing, one of those names has strange 'other' associations, and I'm not sure it's Elfland...
I wonder if there is a British equivalent of Poughkeepsie. Slough, maybe? Except Slough always reminds me of the Slough of Despond in John Bunyan, which is *very* fantasy. Swindon has the Magic Roundabout. Leicester? Leicestershire (home of the King Edward potato!) is *awfully* prosaic, but it is hiding a Roman caester in it's name, which is suggests hidden depths.
I suppose when you are trying to make things sound strange and other, it's always going to matter where you are standing at the time. Hence, presumably, the hilarious-in-Britain 'High Lord Kevin' and of course poor Jack Vance's memorable 'Servants of the Wankh' which *still* makes me smile. High Lord Kevin indeed.
Poughkeepsie:
weird looking sort of name, no idea what it means
Quite long, not sure how to pronounce it
Looks a bit Scottish maybe, with that 'sie' on the end?
Associations: Elfland. have vague idea it's in Virginia, which name I associate with Elizabeth I and dashing explorers in ruffs. (Edit: apparently this is incorrect. Oh well, all the best legends are vague on geography)
Elfland:
Name that I've grown up with in many different contexts
has an obvious meaning
easy to pronounce
Associations: Hollow Hills, hill forts, misfortune, 'elf arrows', Tolkien, Kipling and the Dymchurch Flit, Tam lin, as many traditional stories as you can shake a stick at.
From where I'm standing, one of those names has strange 'other' associations, and I'm not sure it's Elfland...
I wonder if there is a British equivalent of Poughkeepsie. Slough, maybe? Except Slough always reminds me of the Slough of Despond in John Bunyan, which is *very* fantasy. Swindon has the Magic Roundabout. Leicester? Leicestershire (home of the King Edward potato!) is *awfully* prosaic, but it is hiding a Roman caester in it's name, which is suggests hidden depths.
I suppose when you are trying to make things sound strange and other, it's always going to matter where you are standing at the time. Hence, presumably, the hilarious-in-Britain 'High Lord Kevin' and of course poor Jack Vance's memorable 'Servants of the Wankh' which *still* makes me smile. High Lord Kevin indeed.
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