Date: Thu, 3 Mar 1994 11:11:22 PST From: Peter Benson Subject: Local pronunciations of toponyms David Prager Brannerwrites: Re: Local pron. of toponyms In Chinese dialects you often find placenames whose MEANING and not only phonology are totally different in dialect from those of the characters used to write them in the "standard" (?) language. This is more complicated than "Avenue of the Americas" in Manhattan being called "Sixth Avenue". Is this equivalent to folk etymologies - such as sparrow grass for asparagus ? So if there were a Native American name for a place that had parts that looked vaguely English and was re-interpreted in an English way, would this be an example ?