Groovy Brisbane place-names

I really enjoy Australian place-names. In the Pacific Northwest, there's a lot of fun, Native American-derived place-names -- like ''Sequim'' and ''Tulalip'' and ''Pullyup.''

My favorite local place-name is ''Booval'' -- which is pronounced ''Boo-VAHL'', but which I pronoucne ''BOOvuhl'' (on syllable; rhymes with ''removal'') -- drives The Lady nutty!!! Also ''Capalaba'', which is supposed to be ''Cap-ALLAH-bah'', but which I pronounce ''CAP-a-LABBA'' (or maybe like a fraternity: Kappa-Labba).


Part of the difference is that I unconsciously try to apply the pronounciation rules of Japanese (I took a few years in high school), which is similar to the Hawaiian pronnounciation system: Cluster the consonants and vowels. But not here.

And, as you may've noticed, the vocal inflection is different for Aussies. For example, I say ''root beer'' -- but The Lady says ''root bieh'' (emphasis on ''bieh'').


What put me on this topic is this evening (still at work!), I've been doing some address searches, to see whether potential participants for a study are close enough to taxi in to the focus group venue, and which are too darned far away. So: In the postcode ''4560'', in addition to boring suburbs/towns like ''Mapleton,'' ''Rosemount,'' and ''Parklands'', there be spiffy ones like ''Bli Bli,'' ''Cooloolabin,'' ''Dulong,'' ''Kiamba,'' ''Kulangoor,'' ''Kureelpa,'' ''Nambour,'' and ''Perwillowen.''


So: Someone from Seattle would say ''Coo-loo-lah-bin''; but it's really ''Coo-lool-ah-bin''. Probably.


--GG