Thread: Counties

Hi!

(am I the only one who thinks that i and ! when next to each other (like this i!) look weird)

However my question is different.
I always see different ways of writing English and Irish County names.

Hereford, Herefordshire, County Hereford, Co Hereford, Hrfd
Devon, Devonshire, County Devon, Co Devon
Co Galway, County Galway

as well as Scottish Inverness-shire, Inverness, Rosshire, Perth and Perthshire

and so on. Sometimes the part shire is absent, sometimes it's Co instead of County

Sooo. What form is the most common and useful and what is just the common short form which is used simply because it is shorter and everyone knows what it means?

Thank you!

edited: basurero, спасибо тебе большое за исправления!

Originally Posted by Leof

Hereford, Herefordshire, County Hereford, Co Hereford, Hrfd
Devon, Devonshire, County Devon, Co Devon
Co Galway, County Galway

as well as Scottish Inverness-shire, Inverness, Rosshire, Perth and Perthshire

and so on. Sometimes the part shire is abscent, sometimes it's Co instead of County

Sooo. What form is the most common and useful and what is just common short form which is used simply because it is shorter and everyone knows what it means?

Thank you!

The difference between Hereford and Herefordshire, or Inverness and Invernesshire, or Perth or Perthshire, is that in each case the latter is a town and the former is a county named after the town.

But Herefordshire and Co Hereford are synonyms, as are Devon, Devonshire and County Devon.

Each county has only one official title (in the case of Devon, it's simply Devon), but they may not always have been called that, which is why you see so many different versions. County boundaries can be and regularly are redrawn for administrative purposes, but in everyday speech people carry on using whichever term they culturally associate with thay area even in some instances where the county itself no longer exists.

This is especially true in Scotland, where the traditional burghs and counties were gradually abolished in the 70s and 80s and replaced with larger unitary authorities. People still talk about Invernesshire and know what it means, may even use it on a postal address, but in fact the relevant local authority area today is called Highland, which incorporated most (but not all) of Invernesshire and five or six other traditional counties.

Uhuh.

It makes it look brighter.

But (oh, of course I know about the cities like Hereford) often it seems like it means the whole area of the shire, but not only the city area.

Anyway, I understand the reast now, TY!

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by Leof

Hereford, Herefordshire, County Hereford, Co Hereford, Hrfd
Devon, Devonshire, County Devon, Co Devon
Co Galway, County Galway

as well as Scottish Inverness-shire, Inverness, Rosshire, Perth and Perthshire

and so on. Sometimes the part shire is abscent, sometimes it's Co instead of County

Sooo. What form is the most common and useful and what is just common short form which is used simply because it is shorter and everyone knows what it means?

Thank you!

The difference between Hereford and Herefordshire, or Inverness and Invernesshire, or Perth or Perthshire, is that in each case the latter is a town and the former is a county named after the town.

But Herefordshire and Co Hereford are synonyms, as are Devon, Devonshire and County Devon.

You got it the wrong way round! The former is the town name and the latter is the county name.


Leof, you will also meet commonly used abreviations for a few counties which people tend to write on addresses because the county names are a bit long:

Hertfordshire - Herts
Buckinghamshire - Bucks
Hampshire - Hants
Oxfordshire - Oxon
Nottinghamshire - Notts
Bedfordhsire - Beds

These are the most common ones.

Hey so I did!

My bad.

TATY - very useful information!

scotcher - no worries - I took you right, I undrestood that you just miswrote them.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Leof

Hi!

(am I the only one who thinks that i and ! when_ next to each other (like this i!) look weird)

However my question is different.
I always see _ different ways of writing _ English and Irish County names.

Hereford, Herefordshire, County Hereford, Co Hereford, Hrfd
Devon, Devonshire, County Devon, Co Devon
Co Galway, County Galway

as well as Scottish Inverness-shire, Inverness, Rosshire, Perth and Perthshire

and so on. Sometimes the part shire is absent, sometimes it's Co instead of County

Sooo. What form is the most common and useful and what is just the common short form which is used simply because it is shorter and everyone knows what it means?

Thank you!

TATY - very useful information!

scotcher - no worries - I understood you right, I undrestood that you just miswrote them.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by basurero

scotcher - no worries - I understood you right, I undrestood that you just miswrote them.

Nope, Leof's version was much better IMO. "Took" in that context is nicely idiomatic, and your repetition of "understood" is aesthetically unpleasant.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by basurero

scotcher - no worries - I understood you right, I undrestood that you just miswrote them.

Nope, Leof's version was much better IMO. "Took" in that context is nicely idiomatic, and your repetition of "understood" is aesthetically unpleasant.

Мust be regional. I've heard "got" but not "took".

Originally Posted by TATY

Hertfordshire - Herts
Buckinghamshire - Bucks
Hampshire - Hants
Oxfordshire - Oxon
Nottinghamshire - Notts
Bedfordhsire - Beds

These are the most common ones.

Without google I would never had related Hampshire to Hants or Oxfordshire to Oxon

That was a useful information.

Originally Posted by basurero

Originally Posted by Leof

Hi!

(am I the only one who thinks that i and ! when_ next to each other (like this i!) look weird)

However my question is different.
I always see _ different ways of writing _ English and Irish County names.

Hereford, Herefordshire, County Hereford, Co Hereford, Hrfd
Devon, Devonshire, County Devon, Co Devon
Co Galway, County Galway

as well as Scottish Inverness-shire, Inverness, Rosshire, Perth and Perthshire

and so on. Sometimes the part shire is absent, sometimes it's Co instead of County

Sooo. What form is the most common and useful and what is just the common short form which is used simply because it is shorter and everyone knows what it means?

Thank you!

TATY - very useful information!

scotcher - no worries - I understood you right, I undrestood that you just miswrote them.

Thank you!

"I understood you right" is OK colloquially, perhaps, but it's not great style. Maybe "I understood what you meant" would be better.