An outreach with an American choir on Merseyside

[sitifan]

An outreach with an American choir on Merseyside resulted in three hundred people being counselled. (page 156)
Source: https://www.amazon.com/-/zh_TW/Brian-Mills/dp/0860653854

Merseydide is a county. Why use the preposition "on"?

Merseyside - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[probus]

According to Wikipedia Merseyside is only a ceremonial county, not a political subdivision. In this context it just means Liverpool and its vicinity. You could also call it Greater Liverpool or the Liverpool metropolitan area. I guess the author chose “on” because the Mersey is a river and he was thinking of Merseyside as its banks.

 

[Skrej]

It very likely may simply be a typo.

 

[emsr2d2]

"It is traditional to express location within the Merseyside area by the pronoun on, thus "on Merseyside" as opposed to "in Merseyside" (after all, one would be "on the side of the Mersey" not "in" it). Current usage seems to be to make a distinction between the geographical "Merseyside" (The "Greater Merseyside" referred to above) for which "on" is appropriate and the county, for which "in" is used."

Source: Fandom

 

[probus]

I don't trust the opinions of anybody who thinks "on" is a pronoun.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ha ha, I hadn't spotted that. However, I can confirm, as a BrE speaker, that we refer to people living in that area as living "on Merseyside". In fact, "in Merseyside" sounds completely alien to me!

 

[teechar]

For reference:

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Ngrams: on Merseyside, in Merseyside, 1800-2022

books.google.com

 

[RickMarengo]

According to Wikipedia Merseyside is only a ceremonial county, not a political subdivision. In this context it just means Liverpool and its vicinity. You could also call it Greater Liverpool or the Liverpool metropolitan area. I guess the author chose “on” because the Mersey is a river and he was thinking of Merseyside as its banks.

Completely agree "on" the Thames, "on" the Southbank (in London), "on" the Mersey, "on" Merseyside. Also, "on" the Seine and "on" the left bank (in Paris). It is not a typo as someone suspected. Conversely, I am not sure if "in Merseyside" would jar with me very much. However, "in Southbank" would lead me to conclude it was another town called Southbank and not the Southbank area of London.
Not sure how it is used in USA or Australia. I believe all English speakers would say "in the port" but "on the quay".

 

[RickMarengo]

It very likely may simply be a typo.

"...on Merseyside" is accepted UK English usage. See my other comment.