This is from a
Column 8 thread in the Sydney Morning Herald...
April 15, 2010Patrick St George, of Narrandera, notes the existence of Wagga Wagga, Woop Woop and Woy Woy, and asks: ''Why is it that it sounds OK to say that you are going to Wagga, but you would never say you are going to Woop or Woy?''
April 16, 2010We have to hand a theory regarding the Wagga, Woy and Woop question of yesterday, courtesy of Christopher Woods, of Mount Victoria: ''It's long been apparent (to me, anyway) that a place with a double name, where each name is a double syllable, is usually shortened to just one, eg, Wagga, Kurri, Tilba. A place where each name is only one syllable isn't, eg, Woy, Bong, Curl etc. I counted 54 in an old postcode book, 28 doubles and 26 singles. I haven't been to all of them, so this theory is yet to be fully tested. Are there readers in Wool Wool and Banka Banka who can confirm this?''
April 19, 2010''Christopher Woods's theory on double-syllable, double-worded place names seems sound, until you get to Goonoo Goonoo,'' opines Kevin Lamond, of Windsor (Column 8, Friday). ''The pronunciation I've heard used most often is Goona Ganoo, so saying the first without the second not only doesn't work, it also spoils the wonderful rhythm of the words.''
April 20, 2010''Your Monday item from Kevin Lamond offers an incorrect pronunciation of Goonoo Goonoo,'' we are informed by Neil Ronald, of Newtown. ''The locals call it 'Gunna Gunoo', or just Gunna, as in, 'I'm gunna pronounce it any way I like'.''
April 21, 2010The pronunciation of Goonoo Goonoo is not, as claimed by Neil Ronald yesterday, ''Gunna Gunoo'', but ''Gunny Gunoo''. We have had shearers and stockmen and publicans from all over the state swearing that this is the case, and we're not going to argue with them.
Walla Walla, Washington: The exception that proves the rule?
