Hunahpu and Xbalanque

I have recently become a bit of a mythological heroes geek.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque are twins in Mayan mythology. The Popol Vuh, a book of myths belonging to the Quiche Mayans of highland Guatemala, tells us that the twins outwitted the lords of the underworld in many ways, primarily by saying they would bring them back to life after killing them. And then they didn't. One lord's hero is another's reneger.

Anansi is a spider-trickster from West African mythology. His speciality is telling stories. One story goes that he tricked the sky-god Nyame into giving him all his stories, by performing impossible tasks, mostly involving deceit such as persuading a python to lie down alongside a tree branch to prove he was the longest animal, then capturing it.

Himiko, the Queen of Yamatai, in present-day Japan, may even have been a real person. She reigned over a matriarchal court and possessed shaman abilities. She is still today revered by some in Japan. I suppose their equivalent of the scientologists.

Sun Wukong is the Monkey-King of Chinese legend. He wields weapons that he stole from the dragon-king of the sea, including a golden staff so heavy that no other being can wield it, but capable of shrinking down so small that the Monkey King can store it in his ear; flying boots; and magical armour. Take that, dragon-king!

It's clearly not the case that, to be a hero, you have to be squeaky clean and a do-gooder. Stealing, lying, deceiving. Life involves compromises, doesn't it?

1,689 light bulbs, and why you should read this on Black Friday

It's not often that I give my readers the answer to a quiz question before stating the question.

Those 1,689 light bulbs? That's how many were installed in The Church of The Saviour on Spilled Blood in St Petersburg when it was completed in 1907. The spilled blood refers to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. On 1 March 1881, Alexander was returning to the Winter Palace after a military inspection when he was killed by the second of two bombs. His son, Alexander III, the new Tsar, decided to build a magnificent church in his memory and on the exact spot where he been mortally wounded (he was taken back to the Winter Palace but died there).

Devastated by world wars and the revolution, the church was nearly demolished but restoration began in 1980 and it is today a museum.

The quiz question?

Which was the first major church in the world to be designed to be lit by electricity?

Remember that when you're designing a Christmas quiz.

I discovered this initially from an offhand comment in the latest Reacher book: The Sentinel. Which I have just finished. Reacher is a character created by Lee Child. This is the latest in the series - Jack Reacher 25 - and the writing has now been taken over by Lee Child's brother, Andrew while Lee concentrates on Reacher movies. Reacher is an ex military policeman, 6ft 5ins tall with "hands the size of dinner plates". In Never Go Back (Jack Reacher 18), he is described as having "a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue." So who did they cast as Reacher in the movie? Tom Cruise, who is 5ft 7ins tall. Hollywood eh? Everyone makes mistakes.

If you need escapist fiction with intricate but entertaining plots, and a good guy hero, try the Reacher books.

Myself, I've just bought Standing Our Ground: The Triumph of Faith Over Gun Violence: A Mother's Story by a US Congresswoman, Lucy McBath, whose 17 year old son was gunned down in Florida on Black Friday 2012. Since then she has campaigned for gun control.

But what struck me most when I heard her story was that every year on Black Friday (today) she writes to her deceased son, sharing her life with him.

That is what made me order the book. When it arrives and when I have finished it - and passed it on to whoever is interested - I will review it in this blog.

Eat your heart out, Columbus

"Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus, a band of European sailors left their homeland behind in search of a new world. Their high-prowed Viking ship sliced through the cobalt waters of the Atlantic Ocean as winds billowed the boat’s enormous single sail. After traversing unfamiliar waters, the Norsemen aboard the wooden ship spied a new land, dropped anchor and went ashore." This is what history.com tells me.

Fake news? Apparently not. Remains of Norse buildings were found in the 1960s in Newfoundland. An 11th century Norwegian coin was found in Maine in 1957.

While these are perhaps slightly speculative, there is clear archaeological evidence of a Viking settlement in Greenland. From the 10th century.

The Vikings of course were one of the greatest maritime cultures of all time, so it makes sense that they should have found their way to North America before other European cultures. From Wikipedia, this map shows areas of Scandinavian settlement in the eighth (dark red), ninth (red), tenth (orange) centuries. Yellow denotes areas conquered by the Normans in the 11th century. Green denotes areas subjected to Viking raids.

Why then do we think of Christopher Columbus as the discoverer of America? Doesn't Canada or Greenland count? Are the Viking Embassies asleep on the job?

Interestingly, 9 October is Leif Erikson Day in the USA [for balance, they also have a Columbus Day]. Eriksen was that Greenland guy and may indeed have been the Newfoundland discoverer. President (1923-1929) Calvin Coolidge apparently gave recognition to Leif Erikson as the discoverer of America.

I guess those Iberians just have better PR people.

Aliens in Georgia

Today's Times reports that "Alien worms spread terror in Georgia".

I know, you'll think I'm on one of my politician-mocking shticks. Not so. This really is about worms. Nothing to do with the fact that Georgia stole millions of Trump's votes. Nothing to do with Rudy Giuliani. Real, animal worms. To be precise, the Hammerhead Worm. Yes, even more opportunities for poor taste jokes.

The hammerhead worm, so called because of its distinctive shape,

is a member of the Bipalium genus of large predatory land planarians. What is a planarian? It's a flatworm of the class Turnbellaria. For those of you who have long forgotten your biology lessons, here are some reminders of biological classifications and rankings:

• A class contains orders
• Orders contain families
• Families contain genuses - correct plural but more usually genera
• Genera contain species
• The Bipalium genus contains approximately 50 species

I researched a number of reports of this but sadly none of them identified the species of the individual in question. Shoddy journalism; do your research, people!

Anyway, these guys are only "alien" in the sense that a gardener in Georgia said "it looked like an alien". I could find no information about what actual aliens have been seen in Georgia, to enable our gardening friend to make his judgment.

[fans of The Mandalorian will be particularly delighted to see this little guy]

The worm, however is indigenous to the USA.

Hammerhead worms are carnivorous and prey mostly on other worms, particularly earthworms. They produce tetrodotoxin, the same deadly neurotoxin produced by pufferfish, according to a study from Utah State University.

The Times reports that James Murphy from the University of Georgia "emphasised that there were only a few of the worms. As long as you are not eating numerous worms it is not something to be concerned about."

Wait, who are you talking to? There are people in Georgia who eat worms? Are you serious? Maybe he's from the University of Georgia Department of Comedy. Here we were, having serious discussions about biology, and you lower the tone? Come on! Be serious.

No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post.

Turkey revenge

In the United States, a fluffy white turkey called Corn refused to pardon a fluffed up orange turkey called Donald, saying "No! No pardon! YOU'RE FIRED!".

What kind of a name is Corn anyway? That would be like me calling my sons Fish and Chips. There are in fact plenty of people called Chips but I couldn't find any named Fish. Although there is a character called Fishcake in Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles.

In Russia, a tiger called Buffalo refused to pardon a steroid-enhanced balding tiger called Vlad, saying "No! No pardon! YOU'RE RETIRED!"

In Belarus, an ostrich called Lizard refused to pardon a marmite-enhanced red ostrich called Alex, saying "No! No pardon! YOU'RE UNHIRED!"

In Cornwall, an old man refused to pardon a pasty called Pete, saying "No! No pardon! YOU'RE TIRED!"

In better news, an old lady pardoned a flirtatious fly called Felicity, which she had swallowed. I don't know why.

The fly pardoned a gangling spider called Sid, who had been hired to eat her.

The spider pardoned a pretty little bird called Betsy, who flew threateningly close.

The bird pardoned a snooty cat called Clarence, who was jumping up trying to catch her.

The cat pardoned a menacing dog called Dennis, who growled at him.

The dog pardoned a lumbering cow called Cordelia, who was a bully.

The cow pardoned a handsome horse called Hezekiah, because he was kicking her.

And they all refused to pardon the old lady for starting the fake news story in the first place, saying "No! No pardon! YOU'RE WEIRD!"

Horses, Lego and Darwin

Horses to helicopters. That's evolution. Horses are, at least were, cavalry. Fast moving units.

⇉

Elephants not so much. They evolved to tanks.

Pterodactyls to birds to Spitfires to drones. That's evolution.

Canoes to triremes to battleships to...the Millennium Falcon.

Mules to buses to bullet trains to teleporters.

Apes to humans to...Arnold Schwarzenegger. The archetypal cyborg.

We have a great deal to thank Charles Darwin for.

Where will it all end?

Flags and anthems

I recently gave some examples of national flags and commented on their attractiveness (to me). Also I enjoy listening to, and talking about, national anthems. I grew up in a post war generation which was beginning to question issues of patriotism and reverence. I was always amazed in the cinema when people stood up for the national anthem. That seems odd nowadays but the country had recently fought and won against a terrible enemy and there was much communal pride.

I can't recall ever standing up for the national anthem. A young man has to make a stand, yes? I know, always a rebel...

Anthems have two aspects - music and words. Who can fail to be stirred by the music to the Welsh anthem (Gwlad, Gwlad)? Or La Marseillaise? In comparison, God Save the Queen is turgid. No, I'll go further. It's a dirge. Imagine trudging through mud. Thomas Arne's Rule Britannia is at least uplifting.

But here's the thing. We come to the words. "Britannia, rule the waves" is so meaningless that it can't be sung with any conviction. We don't even patrol the English Channel effectively, let alone rule any waves. So are we hooked on nostalgia? Obviously yes; but maybe all countries are.

But no, there are examples where a nation's anthem looks to the future:

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

Or elysian glories, as in this from Bangladesh:

My golden Bengal, I love you.
Forever thy skies, thy air set my heart in tune as if it were a flute,
O mother! The aroma of the mango orchard in Falgun drives me crazy,
Ah, what a thrill!
O mother! In Ogrohayon time sees sweet smiles all through mature fields of paddy.

Spare a thought for the Spanish, whose anthem has no words. Aha, no hostage to future fortune, then. Do their athletes hum their way through it? I checked on YouTube; their footballers just look embarrassed.

Which leads us back to the tunes. How many of us have fidgeted for what seems like hours hoping for the end of the Italian anthem, a symphonic movement of nearly two minutes. Nothing beats the  Uruguay anthem though (6 minutes). Thank goodness. At least God Save the Queen is over quickly.

But I digress; what about the flags? I previously lauded the flags of Kiribati

and Seychelles.

They are colourful and expressive of sunshine, expansiveness and hope.

To those I could add:

Belize

 Brazil

South Korea

Guatemala

They are at least interesting. Otherwise it's uninspiring stripes, crosses and blobs. I'll leave it to you to decide which you like best.

More countries I had never heard of

Following my discovery of São Tomé and Príncipe - see my recent post on that - I thought it would be revealing to check out the list of UN member states to see if there were any others of which I was unaware. Turned out there were.

Comoros - a volcanic archipelago off Africa’s east coast

not many national flags have four colour stripes - in fact I could find only one other, that of Mauritius

Eswatini - a landlocked country in Southern Africa

an interesting flag

Kiribati - 32 atolls and one raised coral island in the Pacific Ocean. Two interesting facts:

• the International Date Line goes round Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching the 150° W meridian. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14
• Kiribati is one of the few countries in the world to be situated in all four hemispheres

(must have info for pub quizzes)

 a nice flag*

Palau - an archipelago of over 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean

not such a good flag

Interestingly, Kiribati and Palau are two of a small group of countries with no reported Covid-19 cases, as of 16 November, according to statista.com

Timor-Leste - turns out this is East Timor (leste is Portuguese for east) so, as I knew of this, it doesn't count.

Check them out at https://www.un.org/en/member-states/ to see if there are others you didn't know. None of us should remain ignorant throughout our lives.

Here's an odd one: Bolivia (Plurinational State of). What does that mean? Wikipedia tells me "a plurinational state is the existence of multiple political communities and constitutional asymmetry". OK but that applies to pretty much every country in the world; why feel the need to state it in your nation's name?

I contacted the Bolivian Embassy in London. Yes I actually did; it's not one of my windups. Bloggers need facts (no offence, Mr Wiki). As of this moment, I have had no reply. If I get one, I'll post an update. [My Spanish O Level didn't prepare me well enough for a telephone conversation about plurinationality]

* on the subject of good national flags, check this out from the Seychelles:

 bold, yes? Very Mondrian.

Stiffrumps

Stiffrump is an 18th century word meaning an obstinate or haughty person. Thanks to Susie Dent on Twitter for that. It translates very obviously and literally into a modern, derogatory two syllable word, which I'll leave you to figure out.

Thanks also to Ann Treneman for quoting these from a book review of The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain yesterday:

Windsucker - a bore
Gullgroper - a moneylender
Slubberdegullion - a dirty, nasty fellow

Next time you meet one of the these, you'll have a smile on your face!

Add your own as comments, please....

Is this the best website ever?

Do you like watching paint dry?

If so, you will love https://www.worldometers.info/

Check out that page and marvel at the live data flashing past your astonished eyes. You'll be bowled over (no folks, not about cricket)

Get over your sporting hangups!

Here is an example from today - emails sent today:

15:00 GMT: 166,600,000,000+ (I can't give an exact number as the numbers are changing too fast)

15:05 GMT: 167,500,000,000

That's over 900 million emails sent in five minutes; three million sent every second. That's insane! What are all these people saying?

How do they know? They're watching us........

I could watch this all day! Wait, there have been 4,610,789 blog posts written today. Here we go, there's one more!

São Tomé and Príncipe

I had never heard of São Tomé and Príncipe, until yesterday.

Turns out it is a small island nation off the west coast of Africa. São Tomé is one of the main islands, Príncipe the other. Population of 220,711 currently, according to my favourite site worldometers.info

The islands' economy is based on plantation agriculture and the main crop is

cacao, ready for your bedtime drink.

Colonised by the Portuguese in 1470 and previously uninhabited - at least by humans - they gained independence in 1975 and became a member of the United Nations in September of that year. They are included in the UN's Least Developed Country category, although scheduled to graduate to the next level in 2024. 

Another thing I didn't know! Least developed countries (LDCs) are low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development. They are highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of human assets.

There are currently 47 countries on the list of LDCs which is reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development (CDP).

LDCs have exclusive access to certain international support measures in particular in the areas of development assistance and trade. [source: un.org/development]

There is a triennial review of graduation thresholds, establishing minimum criteria for an LDC to graduate to a Developing Economy category. The next review is in 2021 and the thresholds for that are:

Gross National Income (GNI) per capita: $1,222 or above
(Income-only: $2,444 or above)
Human Assets Index (HAI): 66 or above
Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI): 32 or below

If anyone is still reading at this point, here are some of the other 46 LDCs at the moment and their scheduled graduation dates:

Vanuatu (2020)
Angola (2021)
Bhutan (2023)
Solomon Islands (2024)

There's so much more to this; I'm still learning.

So how did you come across São Tomé and Príncipe yesterday? I hear you ask.

It's about football. Isn't it always. I was looking for a long odds bet for the weekend and there they were, playing away to one of the strongest teams in African Cup of Nations, South Africa. At odds of 35/1.

Boa sorte meus amigos!

Dudes

Do you call anyone "dude"? Me neither. Of course not. I certainly don't think of my readers as dudes.

I thought it was a modern, American word, used by internet streamers and teenage drug dealers. However, Mr Wiki Pedia tells me it was a common nineteenth century word meaning a dandy or city slicker. Maybe derived from the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy, spelt by less educated Americans as Hinky Dude Led Andy to sing and dance. Maybe.

Much more recently, dude is commonly used by amongst the young, hip crowd. Whoever they are. Generation something or other. Originally referring uniquely to males it is now used for males and females. And others. I haven't heard dudette used in a while, probably because that's not the crowd I mix in. Obviously.

In Australia, the equivalent word is mate. It's ubiquitous. I've even heard married couples addressing each other as mate. No names, no pack-drill. I have no idea what a pack drill is - or indeed whether it should be hyphenated - but my military adviser Tony (RN retired) will surely know.

What do we Brits use? Mate, buddy, pal. For a certain class of Brit perhaps fellow, as in "hail fellow well met". Sounds Shakespearean but I couldn't find any instance of the use of it in the bard's output. Used in Jonathan Swift's poem My Lady's Lamentation:

Hail, fellow, well met,
All dirty and wet:
Find out, if you can,
Who's master, who's man;
Who makes the best figure,
The dean or the digger;
And which is the best
At cracking a jest.

The rhythm and cadence of this reminds me of the Interrupters' song Take Back The Power which I referred to in an earlier post:

What's your plan for tomorrow
Are you a leader or will you follow
Are you a fighter or will you cower
It's our time take back the power

Eighteenth century satirist meets twenty first century ska punk. Who knew?

Movie buffs amongst you will know the Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski, starring Jeff Bridges as "The Dude". I was going to include an image from it but I couldn't find anything copyright-free, so you'll either have to take my word for it, or check it out. It's a movie I haven't seen; perhaps I should. On the list.

OK my dudes, a coda:

On 23 July 2019 Boris Johnson popularized [among the chattering political classes] the word "dude" as an acronym for his Conservative Party leadership campaign. In his leadership speech he explained it as referring to Deliver Brexit – Unite the country – Defeat Jeremy Corbyn – Energize the country. Scorecard: 2/4.

Back to normal

I spent the last four days glued to CNN. I am an election junkie. Always have been. The joy of Clement Attlee in 1945.

Wait, Nigel. Weren't you just a year old at the time?

Ah yes, maybe it was Attlee in 1950, with a wafer thin majority.

When you were six.

A very precocious six.

(and so on...)

Anyway, four late nights (why can't the Americans use GMT?). Immersed in the minutiae of mail-in ballots, absentee voting, the effects of Venezuelan immigrants in Florida and a general geography lesson on American states (not forgetting that Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth not a state) and counties. Directed by the superbly professional CNN anchors, reporters and analysts - although with little pretence of balance in their anti-Trump stance.

It was gripping, waiting for the latest updates from Georgia: Trump's early lead (from on the day voting) shrinking as the mail-in ballots are counted later and eventually disappearing as Biden narrowly overtakes it. It was like watching the final day singles in the Ryder Cup - the to and fro as one side then the other is ahead and the tension when the camera zooms to a reporter in Clark County with the latest batch of votes in Nevada, or to the 17th green as Rory McIlroy lines up a vital putt.

Now I'm back to normal life. CNN will have to wait four years, perhaps for an all-female presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Ivanka Trump (you heard it here first). Back to football, computer gaming, catch ups with the latest episodes of The Mandalorian. The Starry Night jigsaw. And blogging.

Somehow British elections seem mundane. Certainly less drawn out: I can usually get to bed by 6am at the latest, confident of knowing the broad outcome, and that's it. No four day torture, no legal challenges, no town by town numbers. Guys, we need to spice it up!

I'm scouring the world for the next election. There's a Presidential election in Burkino Faso on 22 November. Do they have CNN in Burkino Faso? Ghana 7 December. Indonesian local elections 9 December. Nigeria 27 December (seriously? no Christmas?).

I'm getting the popcorn in. And doing my 30 seconds of Calm.

Pets and kids

One of my closest friends claims that I had a deprived childhood. I take no offence at that because I know Tony adds the rider that "you didn't have a pet, Nigel". I protest at length that my budgie Little Jim ["He's fallen in the wa-ater"] qualified but he scoffs. I mention tropical fish, in which I once had a short-lived (as were the fish) interest, and he claims I am missing the point. Which is what, Tony?

Tony has a dog, Lily.

Lily is a pug. Tony and Lily are very attached to each other.

(I feel like I'm writing a children's book here: "Tony goes out for a walk" - turn the page - "Lily runs after Tony" - next page - "Lily's legs are shorter than Tony's so she has to run faster").

I think Tony would say they care for each other; give each other joy. I get that but - there's always a but - is there any evidence that having a dog or other species of pet has a positive effect on children? Not on people of advanced age (I'm not going to reveal Tony's age; or Lily's for that matter). Would I have been a better person if I had had a cat?

The Research Institute of the Bassett Medical Center in New York conducted a study in 2015, using 643 children, mean age 6.7 years. Their headline conclusion was "Having a pet dog in the home was associated with a decreased probability of childhood anxiety".

More broadly, a wide study in 2016/2017, authored by seven researchers from six institutes of psychology, health and community medicine in the UK and USA examined 22 studies of this subject. I hope you're still with me, and patient, because here's a direct quote from the conclusions:

"The review found evidence for an association between pet ownership and a wide range of emotional health benefits from childhood pet ownership; particularly for self-esteem and loneliness. The findings regarding childhood anxiety and depression were inconclusive. Studies also showed evidence of an association between pet ownership and educational and cognitive benefits; for example, in perspective-taking abilities and intellectual development. Evidence on behavioural development was unclear due to a lack of high quality research. Studies on pet ownership and social development provided evidence for an association with increased social competence; social networks; social interaction and social play behaviour. Overall, pet ownership and the significance of children’s bonds with companion animals have been underexplored; there is a shortage of high quality and longitudinal studies in all outcomes."

I read the whole paper to find references to what animals were studied. That phrase "companion animals (including horses, dogs, cats, rabbits and other rodents [rats? really?])" was used and there is a conclusion that these "have the potential to promote healthy emotional youth development in many ways".

"There is growing evidence that children turn to their pets for comfort, reassurance and emotional support when feeling anger, sadness, or happiness. Thus, it is plausible that companion animals may have the potential to encourage better emotional health and reduce anxiety and depression."

I get all this. What I don't see is whether this "companion animal" effect is particular to children with particular characteristics. Perhaps some children need a pet more than others do? Maybe an only child? There's more to this but Tony, I see what you're saying, my friend!

Final words from the man Tony himself:

"A child with a four-legged warm blooded pet has something which will give him/her unconditional love, no moods, sulks, arguments, responsibility together with an attitude to animals that will warm his heart for life. There is nothing else in the world that can have such a rewarding, lasting and beneficial effect."

Please, people, don't get me a rabbit for Christmas!

30 seconds of calm

I've been watching CNN, following the US election. This is not a politics post though. I discovered that, most of the times when there is an ad break in the TV programme - which, being the USA, is frequently - CNN shows a "30 seconds of calm" video. It's mostly nature - waves breaking on the shore, lambs frolicking, sunsets, etc. The music is not always calming - at least for me - but overall they are worth a look. If you value calm or need to be.

They call it a filler. Maybe that's a tv technical term, I don't know, but basically it's a non-advertisement, non-content slot which they have no need to do but it's cool. You can check them out on YouTube - for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJsbZFKQAY&ab_channel=nch

BTW, CNN is not sponsoring this post! I wish.

Enjoy the calm!

UPDATE: I now find out that it's a sponsorship for a meditation app. Sorry to mislead y'all; I've been played for a sucker. Oh well, could have been worse, e.g. booze or fags.

Quiz #8 answers

Q1. Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows E'en, the day before the Christian All Saints Day. Which Pope inaugurated that Day? Pope Boniface IV or Pope Gregory III, depending on definitions

Q2. Halloween incorporated traditions of the Samhain festival - such as wearing costumes to ward off ghosts - of what religion/culture? Celtic

Q3. There are longstanding connections between Halloween and witches. What animal is most associated with witches? Black cat (half a mark for bats, toads and pretty much anything else, with a negative mark for "fairies") 

Q4. The most recent witch trial worldwide was where and when? Salem, Massachusetts, USA in 1692

Q5. Which artist painted the most famous depiction of a Witches' Sabbath? Goya

Q6. What unusual brass instrument did Hector Berlioz use in the final movement of his Symphonie Fantastique - "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath)? ophicleide

Q7.  What do witches use their broomsticks for? Post your answer as a comment

Q8. What is the correct, government covid-approved response to scary trick-or-treaters at your front door? Post your answer as a comment

Broadwoodwidger

I was driving through Devon and I noticed a signpost to Broadwoodwidger. Obviously I wondered where this name came from. Who or what is a widger?

I, the Origin Seeker, sought the answer.

A long time ago in a place far, far away...there lived some people in a hamlet in the county of Dumnonii in the country of Englaland. In the Broad Wood nearby lived a Thing. The villagers (because hamleteers isn't a word) were scared of the Thing, which made weird noises in the middle of the night. But their children were not scared; they often ran through the  Broad Wood and laughed when they heard the sounds of the Thing.

But one day one of the children didn't return home. The next day, another. The hamleteers got together and went into the Broad Wood to find the Thing, to find out what had happened to their children. "Where are our children?" they cried, hoping the Thing would hear them. And out of the Broad Wood came the Thing. "I have your children; they are safe. I will give them back to you but I would like you to do Something for me."

"What is this Something?"

"I would like you to name your hamlet after me; wud yer?".

"That's it?". "That's it."

The Thing brought the children and allowed them to return to their parents. And the hamleteers renamed the hamlet Broad Wood Wud Yer. Over the years, and through generations of the hamleteers, the name was handed down orally and became: Broadwoodwidger.

Many years later, a Mister Wiki Pedia came to the (by now) village. He claimed to have located a family called the Wygers and that the village is named for them.

But we know the truth. The Pedia man sometimes maketh mistakes. There are no Wygers. I, the Origin Seeker, have been there and met the Thing. Which maketh sense.