Here's the story behind the 58-letter town name in Wales that everyone is talking about
WikimediaThis hard-to-miss sign greets visitors at the train station.Despite looking like what happens when someone falls asleep on their keyboard, Llanfairpwll-gwyngyllgogerychwyrndrob-wllllantysiliogogogoch is actually the name of a town.
Yes, it's 58 letters long, though you can also call it Llanfairpwll, or Llanfair PG for short.
The tiny town on the island of Anglesey in Wales recently made headlines when Liam Dutton, a UK weatherman, pronounced it during a live report without skipping a beat.
It is the longest town name in Europe - and second only to an 85 letter-long place in New Zealand.
The Welsh village has around 3,100 inhabitants, of which around 70% speak Welsh - a language is said to be dying out, as only around 19% of Wales residents speak the language. They probably have to, just to say where they're from.
The tongue-twisting name actually only has 51 letters in Welsh, as "ch" and "ll" are are considered single letters in the language.
Either way, the name is pretty descriptive - it basically tells you the town's exact location, standing for Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.
WikimediaThis is St. Marys church, for which the town is named.
Let's break that down: Parish [church] of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [in] Hollow (pwll) of the White Hazel [township] (gwyn gyll) near (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the parish [church] of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo[f] goch).
Apparently, the town originally had a shorter name (and dates back to the Neolithic period; 4,000-2,000BC), but added a ton of syllables to attract tourists.
However, there's not really a whole lot to do in Llanfairpwll - which only has a few places to stay and eat - apart from gawking at the train station, which features the town's name in all its glory.
Flickr/smlp.co.ukWhile the weatherman may have but LPG back on the map, the town is no stranger to being part of pop culture. Super Furry Animals named their debut E.P. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoger-ychwyndrobwllantysil-iogogogochynygofod (in space), Yeasayer referenced the town in their song "Red Cave," and it is featured in movies like Barbarella and The Road to Hong Kong.
Another fun fact: Actress Naomi Watts briefly lived their with her grandfather, and can pronounce the name of the town perfectly.