OlyShipp

By OlyShipp

Mumps

Whatever else you claim for your town, I bet its station doesn't have a more memorable name than this?

Mumps has been the gateway to (and exit from) Oldham since 1847, though it is now strictly-speaking a tram (Metrolink) stop.

So how do we feel that the first thing you'll associate with our town is an infectious disease?

Well, you shouldn't - not quite. Apparently a mump was originally "a grimace" (1590s), first a verb, "to whine like a beggar" (1580s) - with the disease probably being so called later, due to swollen salivary glands of the face or painful difficulty swallowing.

So actually it's probably named after a almshouse, not an ailment.

Here we are thankful for small mercies. It's not diseased, just a place for beggars.

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