>
>
> John Cowan wrote:
> > But now I find that in Massachusetts, some miles south, we have Lake
> > Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaugg, locally pronounced
> > ['wEpsta]. Take *that*.
>
> ['wEpsta] = Webster? I'm guessing that it used to be called Lake
> Webster, but then they decided to change it to honor the Native American
> tribe who was there before, but people kept using the old name.
>
Possible; I was thinking that nearly NO level of simplification could have
generated that sort of a pronounciation...
Imperative