Alternative Berkshire map features rude nicknames for our towns

A LANGUAGE enthusiast has created a map of Berkshire with alternate (and sometimes a bit rude!) names for our favourite places in the Royal county.

Cartographer Topher Agar (originally from New Zealand) posted his alternate map on Reddit with a view to gaining further input and variant placenames from locals.

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He said: “I have a background in linguistics, and am fascinated with how we play with words and language.

“The [nickname] 'data' was primarily given to me on Reddit then verified on Google and Twitter as legitimately being in use by people.”

Please be advised the map contains some nicknames some people may find offensive.

The map includes some less heard variant forms and nicknames.

• Berkshire is now ‘Berky’

• Thatcham is shown as simply 'Thatch', or ‘Scratcham’

• Newbury gets 'Newbs', or ‘Poobury’

• Tadley becomes ‘Turdley’

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• Wokingham becomes ‘Woky’

• Bracknell is ‘Cracknell’ (or Chavnell is also attested)

• Frimley [although not technically Berkshire] becomes ‘Grimley’

• Slough becomes ‘Sluff’

• Reading becomes ‘Dreading’ or ‘The Ding’

• Datchet is shown as ‘Datshit’, although Agar points out 'Dahshay' with a fake French pronunciation also came up in the research a fair bit.

The map sparked a lot of interest on Reddit.

One user said: “I've lived in Reading almost all my life (had a brief stint in Newbury) and have never heard Berky, Farny, Cambo and The Ding in my life.. they sound like something an Australian made up.”

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But another said: “Ex Cambo resident here, been known like that for at least 20 years, and I’ve been referring to The Ding for almost as long.”

You can view the full conversation and the original post here: 

What do you think? What suggestions do you have for alternate Berkshire place names?

You can see more of Topher Agar's designs here: