My dad often recalls the story of when he was first in London as a young boy fresh from Irish shores. The locals used to always have a go at those from Ireland because they dropped their 'h' or 'aitch'. As in tree for three. Hence the joke, about the 3 irishmen who were looking for a job - one of them saw a sign 'Tree Fellers wanted'. You get the rest of it!
Anyway his response would be.
"What do you call the river in London?"
"The Thames" they would say.
"How do you spell that?".
"T H A M E S".
"Well why do you say Tames and not the Th-ames" he would reply, really emphasising the 'h'.
Well just the other day, before going off for my swim in Tooting Bec I came across the website for the Outdoor Swimmers Society. In it there is a link for a company who specialise in swimming holidays. They have a great strapline which sums up what they are all about - "Ferries are for wimps. Lets Swim"
And there I found the origin of the word for the Thames. It goes like this:
"Justifying its original Celtic name (Tamese) meaning "Tranquil River," the Thames has witnessed many important events through English history. In fact there are some 140 sites of special interest within reach of its banks. It has also been a source of inspiration for writers and poets throughout the ages."
They only bloody well drop their 'h' from the word Thames because its an Irish word! Well now, how ironic.
No comments:
Post a Comment