I once lived in a town where referring to landmarks by what had been
there before was a matter of "ancient" usage and custom.
Unfortunately, the modern property lines had only begun to be
established in the late XVIII, so everyone quickly realizes that
anyone (even an anonymous peasant girl?) with half a brain could
consult the original land grants and have an unbeatable appellation
("good old 'rock', nothing beats that!"). The sporting thing, then,
consists in attempting to gauge how long your interlocutor's people
have been around, and then using the name from just before the one
they would have used themselves ... go too far back, and you should
consider yourself beaten.
Now I live someplace where this game is played by designating regions
by their names from a few thousand years ago; the scope is grander
but the tactics remain the same.
-Dave
stat via pristina silex, ultra nomina nuda tenemus
