Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate is one of the smallest streets in York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, if not the smallest. It is between Colliergate and Fossgate and intersects The Pavement and The Stonebow in York city centre. It is currently a length of raised pavement between a church and a road junction.

The origin of the name is unclear. A plaque erected in the street states that it derives from a phrase Whitnourwhatnourgate meaning "What a street!", but most modern sources translate the phrase as "Neither one thing nor the other". The city's whipping post and stocks were here in the middle ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, which may have influenced the change to the modern spelling and has certainly provided an alternative folk etymology.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma is the title of a novel by York author Martyn Clayton

Martyn Clayton

Martyn Clayton is an English writer who lives in York, Yorkshire.He writes about pop culture, music, the environment, gender, history, social justice and contemporary culture...