Cave naming

W

Walrus

Guest
Curiosity (or stupid?) question: Where do caves, passages etc get thier names? Does the finder get to name them? and what if people hate what the've called it or just think it sholud be called somthing else? Who has the final say?
 

AndyF

New member
Generally the exploreres get to name it. There are a few "conventions":

Don't name after living people, especilally yourself (unless its a good 'joke name' like Elbons Kram").

Don't whatever you do, name it after your girlfriend (eg. Samanthas Passage) or you will be ridiculed.

Don't "overname", i.e. don't give names to every 2m of passage.

Don't use abusive names

Example from our project are:

Huge Crawl:    Its squalid and tiny.
Wotno Streamway:    It doens't have a stream in it
Rising Damp:    A sump that rises and falls....
The Tourist Trap:  A tight squeeze that a 'guest' digger got a bit stuck in....
Floodgate Pot: Don't be below it if it rains...








 

Cave_Troll

Active member
so basically yes. the people that found it get to name it.

GM Chamber in Robins Shaft (in joke and we're not going to tell you what GM stands for)
Captain Stephen's freakout in Chohesion dig
1 foot chamber in Crem (warning 1 foot chamber is currently at least 15 feet hight)
 

nickwilliams

Well-known member
My favourite is the 'Far Canal' in (I think) Pozu del Xitu. Apparently it's nothing like a canal, but this is the closest printable thing to what the explorers actually said when they found it!

Nick.
 

graham

New member
AndyF said:
Generally the exploreres get to name it. There are a few "conventions":

Don't name after living people, especilally yourself (unless its a good 'joke name' like Elbons Kram").

Don't whatever you do, name it after your girlfriend (eg. Samanthas Passage) or you will be ridiculed.

Don't "overname", i.e. don't give names to every 2m of passage.

Don't use abusive names

And see how many of your names are still in use after 10, 20 or 30 years.
 

AndyF

New member
nickwilliams said:
My favourite is the 'Far Canal' in (I think) Pozu del Xitu. Apparently it's nothing like a canal, but this is the closest printable thing to what the explorers actually said when they found it!

Nick.

There was also "Flat Iron" shaft in ...Spain somewhere. It had flat sides and was "FE".......

 

Slug

Member
Or the bit in Wigmore on Mendip, that got its name after a local Pundit proclaimed " That Cave wont go, as long as I've got a hole in My arse ". Hence " Butches arse "...... :clap:.....( Sorry Alan :spank: ).
 
I think it was Xitu (go on,correct me someone) as well where there are three successive pitches called Gesellschaft, DeutscheGramophonGesellschaft and ThompsonsGesellschaft. So forward planning probably a good idea too.
 

Cookie

New member
Sid Weighells Dog said:
I think it was Xitu (go on,correct me someone) as well where there are three successive pitches called Gesellschaft, DeutscheGramophonGesellschaft and ThompsonsGesellschaft. So forward planning probably a good idea too.

Not having benefited from an education at Oxford, that is way beyond me. Can you explain?  :confused:
 

martinr

Active member
Cookie said:
Sid Weighells Dog said:
I think it was Xitu (go on,correct me someone) as well where there are three successive pitches called Gesellschaft, DeutscheGramophonGesellschaft and ThompsonsGesellschaft. So forward planning probably a good idea too.

Not having benefited from an education at Oxford, that is way beyond me. Can you explain?  :confused:

Using Babel Fish: Gesellschaft becomes Society and DeutscheGramophonGesellschaft beccomes German Gramophon Society. But I am still confused
 

gus horsley

New member
Also be careful of pronunciations.  There's a scrotty little hole on Ingleborough that someone named Ogof Ffynnon Don't because they apparently thought the Welsh cave was pronounced Ogof Ffynnon DO, rather than THEE.  If you see what I mean.
 

paul

Moderator
Have a look at Richard Witcombe's "Who was Aveline Anyway?" for the story of various cave and cave feature names on Mendip. Pity there isn't one for other areas (there's an idea!).

We have named The Owl's Bottom and Ken's Back Passage at Owl Hole appropriately in the Peak. There is some trend for using various person's names backwards in Peak District caves, such as Elbon Kram, Namraed Sump, Nomis Chamber etc. Anybody know where Egnaro (Orange?)Aven in the Peak cavern system came from?
 

graham

New member
Cookie said:
Sid Weighells Dog said:
I think it was Xitu (go on,correct me someone) as well where there are three successive pitches called Gesellschaft, DeutscheGramophonGesellschaft and ThompsonsGesellschaft. So forward planning probably a good idea too.

Not having benefited from an education at Oxford, that is way beyond me. Can you explain?  :confused:

They are wot we educated types call PUNS, Cookie.
 

Huge

Active member
cap 'n chris said:
Isn't there a chamber/shaft named "Oi, oi, wobble, wobble, thrutch, thrutch" somewhere in Austria?

G5 or Eisturnenhöhle, a BEC find in the Dachstein.:coffee: Got the t-shirt.
 
D

DCWB

Guest
There is often a certain amount of "advertising" that are attached to passage names to try and persuade or disuade subsequent explorers.  For instance, which of these would you prefer to visit?:
Fools Paradise
Highway to Hell
Road to Certain Death
 

graham

New member
There is a chamber in Austria called "PDIAC". I guarantee that no-one outside the original explorers and a few friends will ever decipher it.

I also reckon it'll never ever get used again.
 

gus horsley

New member
DCWB said:
There is often a certain amount of "advertising" that are attached to passage names to try and persuade or disuade subsequent explorers.  For instance, which of these would you prefer to visit?:
Fools Paradise
Highway to Hell
Road to Certain Death

I'd prefer any of them to Shit Sump.
 
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