
How Tube stations got their unusual names (2017) - ohjeez
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20170208-how-tube-stations-got-their-hilarious-names
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chrisseaton
I wonder why this is positioned in terms of tube stations?

The answer for every single one is: because that's the name of the area the
tube station is in.

So why isn't the article just about where do these places get their names
from? Why the extra level of abstraction to make it about the tube stations?

~~~
seanhunter
That's not exactly true or at least the truth is often a lot more complicated
than that.

For example: Turnham Green tube isn't at Turnham Green. It's at a park called
Acton Green common (which also isn't in Acton, it's in Chiswick). Turnham
Green (the actual green) is actually closer to Chiswick Park tube, which is
also near a park which isn't called Chiswick Park.

Turnham Green tube station is named that because it's where the battle of
Turnham Green happened in the English Civil war.

~~~
chrisseaton
> The answer for every single one is: because that's the name of the area the
> tube station is in.

> That's not exactly true

It is exactly true!

Covent Garden tube station is in Covent Garden.

Elephant & Castle is in Elephant & Castle.

Cockfosters tube station is in Cockfosters.

Tooting Bec tube station is in Tooting Bec.

Knightsbridge tube station is in Knightsbridge.

Maida Vale tube station is in Maida Vale.

Aldgate tube station is in Aldgate.

Piccadilly Circus tube station is in Piccadilly Circus.

Queensway tube station is on Queensway.

Shepherd’s Bush tube station is in Shepherd’s Bush.

> For example: Turnham Green

That counter example isn't in the article!

I didn't say anything about any tube station names not in the article.

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rmbryan
See also:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_\(game\))

~~~
aidenn0
I'll go first; are you okay with Central Standard rules?

 _Stockwell_

~~~
mindcrime
Nonsense... according to the Revised Standard Rules of 1892, subsection 19,
paragraph A stroke 2, a player whose name starts with the letter 'a' may not
play Stockwell on the first move of the game!

~~~
aidenn0
Can we have the ruling? There's an exception to that rule for gentlemen
carrying a pocket-watch, but I'm unclear if it applies to Central Standard.

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DyslexicAtheist
quite funny when translating them into German:

 _" London Underground Map Freely Translated into German"_
[https://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/ubahn/m/londo...](https://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/ubahn/m/londonundergroundmapgerman.html)

~~~
peterburkimsher
That's great! I saw a similar map of the Sydney CityRail network, with
anagrams.

Icy Trail: [https://transportsydney.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/icy-
trai...](https://transportsydney.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/icy-trail-
map.jpg)

CityRail (original): [https://berry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sydney-
to-be...](https://berry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sydney-to-berry-
train-south-coast-line.jpg)

~~~
yesenadam
Oh! Thank you, that's brilliant. (Hate Sperm here)

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pbhjpbhj
The _Infanta de Castile_ (Elephant & Castle) etymology is quite compelling,
and could presumably be the origin of the cutler's trademark.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Cutler...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Cutlers)
has a heraldic description of the cutler's arms which has "... at the top a
head of an elephant [cut clean with red?] with golden tusks" (my own
interpretation of the language used), no mention of a castle.

~~~
TheGallopedHigh
The article directly states that this is station is named that because of the
guilds coat of arms.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Yes, I'm just saying it seems they could've got it backwards.

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tompccs
Something I think I would miss if I ever moved to the US (particularly the
west coast): all of your place names sound like they were made up by property
developers or estate agents. Maplewood this and Ruby Valley that. In the Old
World (or at least England), every place name has a story - Cheapside,
Scunthorpe, Billericay, Westward Ho! (including he exclamation mark), etc.
Maybe those don't sound like places you'd want to live, but then again it
doesn't make every place feel like a product in a catalogue.

~~~
aidenn0
Someone once defined suburbs as "The place where they name the streets after
all the trees they cut down"

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weinzierl
I always wondered about Elephant & Castle. Turns out it is named after a
medieval guild of craftsmen whose crest included an elephant carrying a
castle. Who would have thought.

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ljm
These place names are interesting no matter where you look.

E.g you can look at the Moscow metro and the history of station names, and see
how they’ve been updated over time and what they’re in reference to. E.g
Октубрьская.

Or in Barcelona where you have, say, Paral-lel, named so because the main
avenue runs parallel to the equator.

~~~
seanhunter
I heard that one of the Russian words for a train station comes from a
misunderstanding. When a Russian delegation came to London to see the
Victorian train network they were taken to see Vauxhall station. They asked
what it was called (the station) and were told "Vauxhall", so in Russia
stations are called "вокзальный" which sounds something like we in England
would say Vauxhall.

~~~
georgecmu
Вокзал in Russian is the train station (or less commonly to large bus stations
or to airports with appropriate modifiers: автовокзал, аэровокзал). For
pronunciation and etymology refer to [1]:

Borrowed from English Vauxhall (former site of a pleasure garden). The ending
was influenced by зал (zal, “hall”). The spelling фоксал (foksal) attested in
1777 is from French facs-hall, from the same English source. The
transportation sense derives from an epithet for the Pavlovsk train station
building, which at one time served as both a passenger lounge and a place of
entertainment.

[1]
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B...](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BB)

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richrichardsson
The note about what circus means in Picadilly Circus taught me something about
where I grew up: the roundabout where some 5 (or 6 I forget) roads meet at one
end of the high street in Tankerton, Kent is called Tankerton Circus.

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gerdesj
Here, Fiveways roundabout connects four roads. It's not grand enough for
"circus". No-one knows exactly how many roads enter and leave the Magic
Roundabout in Swindon. It changes with the phases of the moon and quantums.

