Is it a universal American practice to call rivers " the [name] River" ? A quick search reveals entries on American sites where e.g. the rivers Seine, Loire and Rhine are called " the Seine River" etc. There are entries for the "Thames River" in England. (It's not: it's "The Thames" or " The River Thames" though Londoners often call it " the River") Interestingly there is a "Thames River" , so styled, but that's in Ontario : do Canadians have this American practice too?
Are there any exceptions to this rule? English practice is to name one simply by it's name without any qualifier e.g the Lark, the Seine, the Loire or to put "River" first. We do, however, follow whatever the local practice is in the case of American rivers so it's e.g. "the Hudson River".
Of course, with typical ignorance of other languages, the English do call the Avon the River Avon, but that's another matter (Avon means 'river')
Ah yes, you English, always assuming that yours is the definitive place name for somewhere.
I take it you mean Stratford England and the River Avon, and not Stratford, Ontario, and the Avon River?
Yes, I know that here in Ontario, our river names are all followed by the word "River" . Strangely enough though, the word "Lake" precedes the name of the lake.
Then in the North of England, we have the River Mersey, the River Dee, the River Ribble and the River Lune. I also understood it to be the River Thames.
Of course, with typical ignorance of other languages, the English do call the Avon the River Avon, but that's another matter (Avon means 'river')
Just to Clarify matters Avon is A corruption of the Welsh word Afon Somehow the English and Welsh got mixed up over time Check out this Welsh Language Website about the Mississippi, and you can see how it fits in http://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afon_Mississippi
Posts: 13650 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
Originally posted by Professor: Geez, Welsh reminds me of English typed with a broken keyboard, or maybe a partly-solved cryptogram.
It's a very easy language to read and spell once learned. None of the letters and combinations of letters ever vary in sound. Once a Welsh speaker hears a word they can spell it and once they see it they can pronounce it unerringly.
It is, therefore, almost impossible for an English speaker to read or pronounce it unaided The letters do not represent the same sounds as in English. So the single F in afon is pronounced like a soft V, hence Avon being the same word as afon: put into English afon is written with a V to imitate the Welsh single F. For the word to be pronounced with English F it would be written in Welsh with double F: 'affon'. Perhaps the only word in Welsh which we still find written in English as in Welsh is cwm, pronounced 'coom', the English name for a kind of short curved valley created by glacial action on mountains. The Welsh W there is a vowel. Cwm means simply 'valley' in Welsh.
The letters do not represent the same sounds as in English. So the single F in afon is pronounced like a soft V, hence Avon being the same word as afon: put into English afon is written with a V to imitate the Welsh single F. For the word to be pronounced with English F it would be written in Welsh with double F: 'affon'. Perhaps the only word in Welsh which we still find written in English as in Welsh is cwm, pronounced 'coom', the English name for a kind of short curved valley created by glacial action on mountains. The Welsh W there is a vowel. Cwm means simply 'valley' in Welsh.
