Speaking in Tongues

Since some Indian family names can be used to guess the family's region of origin:

A person whose family name is Gaikwad and who is probably from Mumbai, would he be likely to have Hindi as his first language?

I was talking to my Filipina friend in Manila last night. (Thank goodness for Skype!). She mentioned that it was hot, so she was wearing thongs as usual. I said that I thought that was an Australian-English word and that we in the US said flip flops. Then I remembered that my brother, who used to live on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, said that there they didn't call them flip flops because that was a derogatory name for a Filipino. On Pohnpei they are called zorries. But I had not offended…

Which one is correct in Russian: 'â êîíöåðò' or 'íà êîíöåðò'?

Does anybody know the origins of these constructions? I seem to hear it predominantly from people from the UK, usually expats in South East Asia. Are there similar malapropisms for places in the UK (or America)?

Examples:
Honkers- Hong Kong
Yangers- Yangshuo
Singers- Singapore
Bangers- Bangkok
Changers- Chiang Mai
Patters- Pattaya

I have not heard
Jackers for Jakarta.

Any Aussies around?

This is what I got in an email "did you know that?". Could there be any trouth in it?
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>When the English settlers landed in Australia, they noticed a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They responded with ’’Kan Ghu Ru’’ the english then adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was <hr></blockquote>

I sometimes use this as a starter for teaching a poem ("unrelated incidents" by Tom Leonard) which includes a lot of phonetically presented dialect, to political effect. Can anyone add to my repertoire with a new bit of dialect from another region?

This one's from Nottingham... overheard on a bus

"Worreewiyerrorworreewiyoo...eewerrwiyerrwontee?"

No doubt this has been done before but I can't resist. Here is a list of funny place names from a British newspaper. Can you add to it (from anywhere in the world)?

Splat (Cornwall)
Pity Me (Co. Durham)
Pennycomequick (Devon)
Nob End (South Lancashire)
Great Snoring (Norfolk)
Thong (Kent)
Piddle River (Dorset)
Sandy Balls (New Forest)
Wideopen (Newcastle)
Great Cockup (Lake District)
Twatt (Orkney)
Crapstone (Devon)
Slack Bottom (West Yorkshire)
No Place (Co. Durham)
Lickey End (West Midlands)
Hackballscross…

I'm American but I don't know the difference. The "firm that he works for" vs. "the company that he works for". When do you use which. I know you would say law firm but I have heard it in reference to other businesses.

Thanks!

Why is the Ck dropped in some surnames of people so Cockburn is pronounced Co-burn...seems a little prudish to me

Over time, I have heard people (generally of English extraction) say "Heavens to Murgatroyd". Does anyone know where this came from? "Heavens to Betsy" is more common, I think. Haven't heard it much here in Canada, though.

where does "Bob's you're Uncle come from?