Crocus Poll - Your top 5

[Lesley Cox]

Not really. I was multi tasking -

Clever you! The ability to do this is usually only displayed by women. Not that coffee can be called a "task"

[Jim McKenney]

Not really. I was multi tasking -

Clever you! The ability to do this is usually only displayed by women. Not that coffee can be called a "task"

I don't know, getting through a cup of bad coffee can be pretty tasking!

[mark smyth]

Too many coffee shops especially big names on high streets and those in airports sell poor quality coffee

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Not really. I was multi tasking - coffee (real  ), googling for 24V transformer for lights, Scottish Rocking ...

You're a man of many talents Mark !
Thanks for the exercise !

[ranunculus]

Not really. I was multi tasking -

Clever you! The ability to do this is usually only displayed by women. Not that coffee can be called a "task"

I don't know, getting through a cup of bad coffee can be pretty tasking!

Many grounds for complaint.

[Paul T]

Cliff,

And here I was, going to comment about it being part of the daily grind! 

[Joakim B]

Maggi my comment of the city name was due to the article calling it Göteburg Botanic garden. The other is a latinised form I presume.
Yes in Scotland there are a lot of Nordic expressions so having a burgh is not surprising but that may have been from the Germanic base in the English language? I think the spelling may have varied a lot at the time of the Nordic presence in Scottland so it can not be ruled out from that but maybe on the age of the city?
I presume there is a similar word in Dutch but can not think of any name of a city with it.
The Danes have an island named Borgholm that is close to Sweden as well as a city Ålborg or the alternative spelling Aalborg that also make a good flavoured aquavit (schnapps). 
All the best
Joakim

[Gerry Webster]

I presume there is a similar word in Dutch but can not think of any name of a city with it.

Tilburg - in the south.

[Joakim B]

Thanks for that Gerry now we have it there as well. 
Is there an English term like burgh meaning castle in to days English? Is there a city name in England that has burg/burgh in that meaning ?
Sorry for the lack of English geography knowledge. 
Kind regards
Joakim

[ranunculus]

Thanks for that Gerry now we have it there as well. 
Is there an English term like burgh meaning castle in to days English? Is there a city name in England that has burg/burgh in that meaning ?
Sorry for the lack of English geography knowledge. 
Kind regards
Joakim

Would Aldeburgh qualify?   (or Chris de Burgh)!    Oops, he is Irish.

[David Nicholson]

Joakim, place names in the UK ending with the modern 'bury of burgh and sometimes bury' are normally derived from the Old English word 'burh' meaning 'a fortified place' or 'a defended place'. Some of these places were defended in pre Anglo Saxon times and there may well be a Celtic element in the word 'burh'. When the Normans came in 1066 it was sometimes in these defended places that they chose to build castles. Old English developed from the forms of speech used by the Anglo Saxon invaders from around 500AD and as such had a 'Germanic' root but it is highly likely that their speech was influenced by Scandinavian invaders. So modern English has developed from all of those races who have 'clobberd' us in the past including Picts, Scots, Anglo Saxons, Danes, Norse, French, Romans together with forms of Celtic speech used by the indigenous Britains who lived the country prior to Roman times, the nearest equivalent of which is the Welsh language today.

[Maggi Young]

Joakim, place names in the UK ending with the modern 'bury of burgh and sometimes bury' are normally derived from the Old English word 'burh' meaning 'a fortified place' or 'a defended place'. Some of these places were defended in pre Anglo Saxon times and there may well be a Celtic element in the word 'burh'. When the Normans came in 1066 it was sometimes in these defended places that they chose to build castles. Old English developed from the forms of speech used by the Anglo Saxon invaders from around 500AD and as such had a 'Germanic' root but it is highly likely that there speech was influenced by Scandinavian invaders. So modern English has developed from all of those races who have 'clobberd' us in the past including Picts, Scots, Anglo Saxons, Danes, Norse, French, Romans together forms of Celtic speech used by the indigenous Britains who lived the country prior to Roman times, the nearest equivalent of which is the Welsh language today.

        Thanks, David!

[David Nicholson]

Just to add a little more useless information! Edinburgh means 'fortification at Eidyn'. Just like taxonomists place name experts have differing views. Some think the 'Eidyn' bit refers 'Edwin's fort', Edwin being King of Northumbria from 617 to 633. Others say the the name is recorded before his time. In c1180 a document records the name of what is now Edinburgh as 'Edenburge'

[Jim McKenney]

Just like taxonomists place name experts have differing views.

And just like a lot of the names taxonomists coin, Edinburgh isn't pronounced the way it looks (or at any rate, the way it looks to me).

[Gerry Webster]

More off-topic & useless information - the Duke of Edinburgh's family name is Mountbatten, formerly Battenberg. Posting this was a piece of cake.