(SM) I have a cousin-in-law who I wouldn't be so ungallant as to describe her as a large dog but she is nevertheless Danish.

Does that imply "dish" means "like the letter D" then?

Yes, and the same for 'fish' and 'wish' too. One of the great benefits of having a highly consistent language like English is that these rules are 100% reliable.

Ah, but you speak of Engl, not the debased English!

Oh yeah. That is a good point.

So, if some town planner decides to make a location vaguely resemble a Birmingham suburb, would that be astonishing?

Why should I watch The Villa? They never cum to see me when I was bad.

'Astonishing' was actually a deliberate policy of post-war governments, and formed part of the overall strategy known as 'maudling'. The Thatcher government, of course, declared that 'astonishing' was old hat and Britain was now in the 'Steven age'. Thus the Villa knell was sounded.

[Super] And all this time I thought 'Stevenage' was named thus becuase it was on the River Steve.