What's in a name?

The residents of a peculiarly-named town in England have had to go to extremes to prevent its name-board from being continually stolen. The Daily Mail reports:

It might have been easier to just change the name of their little hamlet.

Instead, however, the residents of Shitterton have had it set in stone.

Their decision comes after amused visitors to the community in Dorset repeatedly stole signs bearing its name.

They were wooden and far too easily removed by anyone wanting to take home a souvenir. Three had disappeared in a year.

Now thieves will have to work a good deal harder after some of Shitterton's 100 or so villagers clubbed together to pay for a stone sign cemented into the ground.




Ian Ventham, 62, who lives in Shitterton Farmhouse, said of the latest theft: 'We think it was kids who would like to have it stuck on the wall in a den somewhere because it's quite an interesting sign.

'I don't think it was malicious, they just did it for fun, but it was exasperating for us.'

He added: 'We would get a nice new shiny sign from the council and five minutes later, you'd turn your back and it was gone. Not having the signpost could make life difficult by confusing delivery drivers.

'We thought, "Let's put in a ton and a half of stone and see them try and take that away in the back of a Ford Fiesta".'

. . .

In the Domesday Book, Shitterton is recorded in Norman French as Scatera or Scetra, which means a little town on a stream.

Mr Ventham said: 'In Victorian times prudes decided to call it Sitterton. The Ordnance Survey has it down as Shitterton, so that is definitely the correct name. Some still prefer to call it Sitterton, but most of us prefer the rather more earthy version.'

There's more at the link.

I guess it must have been more than a little annoying to have the wood signs disappearing at regular intervals . . . but it's a pity they had to use stone in loo of wood!



Peter