February 1, 1884

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY.com! in 1884, the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. The word Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (a town in Wales, big surprise there) was originally misspelled as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrydrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Only the people who lived there noticed or cared, but they claimed that it changed the meaning significantly. When asked what the correct spelling meant, the Welsh said it translated to ‘sheep herder’ and the incorrect spelling translated to ‘sheep @^!?*#’ and that the distinction was important. The Scots asked why they wouldn’t just change the town’s name to Shephardton or something simple like that and the Welsh replied that if they did that, it just wouldn’t be Welsh, now would it.

About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
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