And on that Bombshell...Top Gear

This week's edition isn't even over yet and I've already almost choked with laugher during the lads competition against their Australian counterparts.

Boris Becker has also been on fine form.

Yes indeed he was. All in all a very fine edition this week.

So, the new season of Top Gear premieres Monday night on BBC-A, and in preparation for it, they are doing a weekend long marathon of Top Gear. I've just been enjoying a nice episode from 2006 in which our trio have to build a kit car in less time than it takes the Stig to drive from London to Scotland.

But there was a little segment in the show that made me thing of Sid. James had a race in a Pugeot against a couple of 20-somethings using "parkour" to move about the city. The city in question was Liverpool, and the finish line was the Liver building. So, why is the city is pronounced "Liverpool" but the building at the heart of the city is the "Live-er" building?

Patrick wrote:But there was a little segment in the show that made me thing of Sid. James had a race in a Pugeot against a couple of 20-somethings using "parkour" to move about the city. The city in question was Liverpool, and the finish line was the Liver building. So, why is the city is pronounced "Liverpool" but the building at the heart of the city is the "Live-er" building?

I actually knew the answer to this once, in the dim and distant past. I'll ponder it and see if I can reclaim it from the cobwebbed corners of my so-called memory and get back to you.

Ah ha! I wikied the question and the answer generally agrees with what I was taught as a kid. Here's the quote in question:

The History of Liverpool can be traced back to 1190 when the place was known as 'Liuerpul', possibly meaning a pool or creek with muddy water. Other origins of the name have been suggested, including 'elverpool', a reference to the large number of eels in the Mersey, but the definitive origin is open to debate and is probably lost to history. A likely derivation is connected with the Welsh word "Llif" meaning a flood, often used as the proper name for the Atlantic Ocean, whilst "pool" is in general in place names in England derived from the late British or Welsh "Pwll" meaning variously, a pool, an inlet or a pit.

and the full information can be examined...HERE

No, I mean the "Liver" in Liverpool is pronounced like the internal organ, while the building at the heart is pronounced with a long "i" sound, "Live-er".

Why not also pronounce the city "Live-erpool"?

Patrick wrote:No, I mean the "Liver" in Liverpool is pronounced like the internal organ, while the building at the heart is pronounced with a long "i" sound, "Live-er".

Why not also pronounce the city "Live-erpool"?

Sorry, my fault with the misunderstanding there. The building's name is pronounced "Live-er" because the Royal Liver Group which owned it were amongst other things heavily involved in the insurance business. It was felt that the name should be pronounced "Live-er", rather than "Liver" because the former suggests connotations with the word "Life" - which is much more appropriate for an insurance company. (and also ties in with an ancient traditional nick name for the city - "The Pool of Life").

As for why the city isn't pronounced that way too. Well, that would just sound silly. Besides, the way it's pronounced is almost certainly tied-in to the heavy Welsh influence which is in evidence across much of this part of the country. (For example, I can get from my hour to Wales itself by car in less than an hour).

Ah, so the building was named for marketing purposes. That makes sense. Thanks, Sid. Onward with the Top Gear marathon.

You're welcome, old chap. Enjoy the marathon.

Have just finished watching last week's episode on iplayer. Simply loved the Albanian stuff.

It was absolutely side-splitting wasn't it. There's been a real return to form so far this series. The Hatchling watched half last night and finished it off this morning. If such a thing is possible, I think he enjoyed it even more than me.

Bad move by Bentley to pull out..................

That was a staggeringly bad call - presumably by someone from Bentley's PR team. They must had realised what the result would be.

I liked the way the cars, which were absolutely filthy after day two, were shiny on day three. All praise to the Albanian car cleaner!

The stunt with the dead body was inspired!

Indeed - fancy having a fridge in the back of the Merc!

Yeah, that did rather surprise me. There was some absolutely beautiful driving during the chase sequence too. And as always, it was stunningly shot and edited as always.

So last night, we had two full episodes of Top Gear- three full hours including the commercial breaks.

Now, here's the thing I'm confused about- the two episodes we got were the challenge with the Australian Top Gear team, followed by the journey of the three "wise men" from the east across Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel before they met the baby Stig. I thought the 3-wise men was from just this past Christmas, and that the Austrialian Top Gear challenge was from the current season.

If so, wasn't there a series last fall? We don't seem to have gotten that yet.

And the two you did get were shown out of broadcast order...

The late autumn season was put back to Jan/Feb so as not to damage Christmas Stig Merchandise sales. However they should definitely be showing the Middle East special before anything from this season.

Well, to further confuse the issue, last week, the episode we got was the trip up the east coast of the US in three super-cars that culminated with James' appearance on a PBS yoga program.

That was correctly shown before the Middle East special, and was the first of the 2 broadcast here over Christmas. I found it a disappointing episode.

That was a very weak episode.

Must catch up with last Sunday's at some stage!