Why Woy Woy can be Woy, but Wagga Wagga never Waga?
Asking as person who live in Australia for 20 years but never got answer on this question?
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Wagga Wagga means place of many crows. In the aboriginal when you say the word twice, it makes it plural. So if you just say Wagga, you're saying crow.
Woy Woy , is place with lots of water. So same logic.
We were probably saying it wrong, but in Northern Victoria we just said Wagga once.
Well, for starters, it's the reverse 😆
And you'd probably have to ask a linguist, but I would think it's gotta be related to 'Wagga' being two syllables, and 'Woy' being one. Not only is 'Woy Woy' short enough to begin with, but 'Woy' is also probably more prone to mishearing than 'Wagga'.
i always thought Wagga Wagga was just shortened to two-wogs
Wallan, VIC is actually Wallan Wallan - lots of wind. But is officially shortened to just Wallan. Others I know of are Bong Bong and Gumli Gumli, NSW. Billa Billa, QLD.