Pub names - what do they mean?

I ordered The Dictionary of Pub Names. I like dictionary format. You can find what you want quickly. The book is not only a handy explanation of pub names, it gives you amusing myths and local history and national and international history. I just got distracted by reading about Ypres and how the French and British pronounce it.


I also bought:
The Old Dog and Duck The secret meanings of Pub Names by Albert Jack (best selling author of Pop Goes The Weasel).

Interesting to read about Captain Kidd who according to this account was not really a pirate but preying on ships from enemy states in wartime. It's more complicated than that.

I also enjoyed reading about Henry VIII and his first wife Anne - whose divorce led to the founding of the Church of England. Next I read about Nelson who suffered from seasickness.

Then on to The Royal Oak, where Charles II hid from Cromwell's men, as Charles later told diarist Samuel Pepys.

The book about pub names also deals with Molly Malone of the Irish song. I was impressed with the song's connection to Dublin (mentioned in the song). She died of a fever - what kind? I have always been too naive to suspect.

If you go to Dublin you can see the statue to Molly Malone, whose day is June 13, commemorating a girl of that name (one of many) who died on June 13.

See pictures in Wikipedia.

Both books are an entertaining read.