[Talk-ca] Saints in street names in Ontario

[Nate Wessel]

Interesting!

I didn't mean to imply that etymology should be decisive, but that 
linking the name to the history of some beatified person would help 
explain the origin of the 'St'... In this case, seemingly supporting the 
abbreviation, but also referencing an actual 'saint' or two at the same 
time.

I like Danny's suggestion of the pronunciation tag. That seems like the 
most elegant solution if anyone knows IPA. I've always wanted to learn 
it actually but haven't yet had a good enough reason.

Nate Wessel
Jack of all trades, Master of Geography, PhD candidate in Urban Planning
NateWessel.com <http://natewessel.com>

On 3/15/19 1:18 PM, Jarek Piórkowski wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 at 13:02, Nate Wessel <bike756 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Don't forget about the various alternative naming tags like alt_name=*, short_name=*, loc_name=*, and also name:etymology=* to make things absolutely clear.
>>
>> Having either spelling in one of these alternatives as appropriate would likely satisfy any dissenters and make both the full and abbreviated name searchable.
> Certainly, but my message is to suggest that "St. Clair Avenue West"
> _is_ the full name. We could set up an "expanded name" tag I suppose?
>
> Etymology wise, Wikipedia, citing (as far as I can tell) local
> historians, suggests that St. Clair Avenue is named after Augustine
> St. Clare, a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the book spells the
> last name "St. Clare", never expanded to "Saint".
>
> In any case, suggesting etymology as being decisive for names seems to
> me problematic in many ways, especially in Canada where we've
> adopted/mangled many names and phrases from other languages.
>
> Thanks,
> --Jarek
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