Yangers, Bangers, Singers

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.

I think of the -ers suffix as originally British schoolboy or university slang. Champers for champagne, blackers for black velvet (Champagne and Gunness mixed.) (There are non-alcholic examples but none come readily to mind.)

A variation is -er without the s. Rugger for rugby, soccer for association (football).

These aren't malaproprisms, by the way. A malaproprism is using one (usually fancy or learned) word when you really mean to use another. Somebody here used to have a sigline of Mike Tyson saying he was going to fade into Bolivian, meaning oblivion. That's a malapropism. From Mrs. Malaprop, a social-climbing character in the 18th century English play A School for Scandal (Richard Brinsley Sheridan) who had a habit of doing that.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Are there similar malapropisms for places in the UK (or America)?<hr></blockquote>

'frisco

I think I may coin "Washers" for Washington D.C.

As a Britsh expat who has lived in Southeast Asia for 17 years, Honkers is the only name on the list I recognise. I have heard of Lumpers for KL but only being used to take the mickey out of people who would say Honkers instead of Hong Kong.

HW -- I think someone may be pulling your leg.

At the risk of hijacking, Vinny, I had a secretary who was great at malapropisms. Her finest was a complaint about all the smokers who were conjugating outside the office back door. "Yes, " replied a coworker, deadpan. "And afterwards they have a cigarette."

Looking around, I see the "old Bangkok Bangers" is "a fun rugby competition for older expats in Thailand."

The Chiang Mai Mail reports "Hong Kong Express launched its twice weekly direct flights between Chiang Mai and Hong Kong last June to become the only carrier to currently offer direct, scheduled services between Changers and Honkers. "

As for adding "-er." Random House Unabridged Dictionary says <blockquote>Quote
<hr>a suffix that creates informal or jocular mutations of more neutral words, which are typically clipped to a single syllable if polysyllabic, before application of the suffix, and which sometimes undergo other phonetic alterations: bed-sitter; footer; fresher; rugger. Most words formed thus have been limited to English public-school and university slang; few, if any, have become current in North America, with the exception of soccer, which has also lost its earlier informal character. <hr></blockquote>

Wikipedia, after Eric Partridge, calls it the Oxford
-er.

Preggers, starkers, and bonkers are other examples in -ers that I should have thought of.

An upper-class suburb of Auckland called Remuera is referred to by some people as "Remmers".

Thanks a lot, if you're interested, here's what I got in the Thailand branch :)

KW, thanks again. I know about the '-er' ending but thought there was more of a 'story' to the '-ers' ending for place names.
VD, your link is an eye- opener. Realised after reading the wiki article that I'd read "preggers" and 'breckers" on TT.
MB, hmmm, I really have seen the ones I mentioned in OP in writing. See here :)
So, as they are not "malapropisms", what would you call them? Nick names? Colloquialisms?

It might of course havwe been a form of "back -slang" used to confuse prison guards or others in authority

Tey come under the umbrella of colloquialisms but are essentially an abbreviation.

Gawd, I think if I told anyone I was off to Bangers for the weekend I would be laughed out of court and it would take about 10 years to live it down.

#8 is quite right; Mrs. Malaprop is in The Rivals not A School for Scandal. I keep saying I have to stop relying on my memory for anything, but then I forget.

hmm. when i was in Singapore we call Hong Kong-ites Honkies.