The magical world of far away placesEarlier this week I was chatting with friends about which places around the globe captured their imagination most when they were kids. For a start the name sounded exotic and I had no idea where it was except it was far away. Re-enforcing the mystery of the place were dictionaries which stated Timbuktu was "a metaphor for far away places" with the Oxford English Dictionary even interpreting it as "the most distant place imaginable". At least the citizens of the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye are aware of Timbuktu, the two places being twinned since 2007. So, for the people of Hay, the expression "from here to Timbuktu" may carry a little more meaning, but it is still basically a long, long way.

Source: Bangkok Post April 04, 2021 00:56 UTC