please empty your brain below
Why am I not surprised?

Debster | Homepage | 23.07.09 - 9:35 a.m. | #

Next thing they'll be calling it "Raven" like the luvvies in the film industry.

"When we were working on Legend (legends of the fall) something in the script reached out and touched me."

"yuh yuh yuh, on Pulp we immersed ourselves into the screenplay."

So in future it will be "Stan, Canon, Queen and King. Oh how I fondly remember the Jubilee series. Golden miles. Golden. Things went downhill after Dollis."

adaptorplug | 23.07.09 - 9:39 a.m. | #

That's great! Perhaps they got the idea from your BoJo-esque post about renaming the city "Londo" to save a letter...

SELondoner | 23.07.09 - 10:29 a.m. | #

I fear rebranding.

disgruntled | Homepage | 23.07.09 - 10:34 a.m. | #

Actually using the first word only is a good idea (???) Get the tourists really confused. Oxford to Liverpool - no prob - go via Tottenham.

Dave | 23.07.09 - 11:12 a.m. | #

The only plus point I can think of is readability. If you use a smaller word, you can fit a bigger font in a non-flexible width. Clutching at straws, I know.

I definitely don't agree with it unless they're looking to officially change the name of the station for some obscure reason.

I have seen the odd maintenance sign using a similar (but the not right) font in the past but never changing the actual name of the place - and certainly not on a permanent fixture.

Scott F | 23.07.09 - 1:26 p.m. | #

What were you doing in Ravenscourt anyway? Or were you tipped off and went out simply to collect photographic evidence?

graybo | Homepage | 23.07.09 - 1:30 p.m. | #

I hope it's not option 1. If applied to rail stations, that would rename my nearest ones 'Essex' and 'Old'.

Maybe it's faux trendiness (the Huntingdon Arms in Barnsbury became the Huntingdon. Mind you now it's called the Cuckoo. So it could be worse)?

However I suspect option 5: cockup wins over conspiracy every time.

Bridget Fox | Homepage | 23.07.09 - 3:17 p.m. | #

Sorry to move slightly away from the discussion, but I run a weekly "guess the station" competition on a forum for mad sods who try and visit all the tube stations in one day (www.tubeforum.co.uk) and I was wondering if you'd mind if I nabbed the main picture to use in next week's quiz, please? The only alterations I would make is to edit out the name on the posted picture (as that would make it too easy) and to blur the name in the background so that it's obvious it's only one word, but not obvious what that word is.

After the quiz is finished I will, of course, give full credit to yourself by linking to both your blog and your flickr account.

Thanks,

James

Jamesthegill | 23.07.09 - 3:33 p.m. | #

Goofs are quite common although this seems to be exceptionally bad. I believe that for years there were various light boxes with a destination of Edgeware on the Northern line.

You see it on some bus stops. At Hendon Central there is a stop with buses "towards Hamstead" and iBus reports Charles 11 Street instead of Charles II Street. And don't get me going on mispronunciation when announcing the stops - especially Regina Coeli School. Doesn't the automated voice know how to pronounce Latin properly ?

Pedantic of Purley | 23.07.09 - 4:41 p.m. | #

There's a place in Wyoming called just 'Ravenscourt'. Do you think I should ... ?

geofftech | Homepage | 23.07.09 - 4:47 p.m. | #

I think it's number 5.

Josh | 23.07.09 - 6:44 p.m. | #

Just a thought - if it is #5 (and I suspect it is, even though if I wouldn't be surprised if it was any of the other four scenarios), I wonder how much fare payers' money has been spent by TfL on manufacturing and installing this obviously incorrect sign?

You'd have thought that they would have noticed this blunder before the sign was even manufactured...

Andrewh | 23.07.09 - 7:51 p.m. | #

They did it with Gillespie Road years ago. Give us our station back and take your so called football club back to Woolwich and rename your own station.

Johnny Topaz | 24.07.09 - 12:23 a.m. | #

Interesting. I actually like the change (if it isn't a cock-up).

Let's see if it gets updated in the maps.

Dan | 24.07.09 - 7:49 a.m. | #

On the correct pronunciation of Regina Coeli school, would you prefer the electronic voice to use the church latin pronunciation with a soft c or the classical latin version with a hard one?

Baldassaro | 24.07.09 - 9:51 a.m. | #

I can't envisage the church latin version with that o present after the C. It would be a start if they could get "Regina" correct.

Pedantic of Purley | 24.07.09 - 2:55 p.m. | #

Definitely number 5. When London Underground took over the management of stations served by the Bakerloo line at the end of 2007, I took a picture of the new "Wembey Central" platform roundel. It lasted about two months before anyone saw fit to replace it.

THC | 24.07.09 - 3:45 p.m. | #

6. A tribute to John Peel...

jon | 24.07.09 - 5:28 p.m. | #

The Mystery of Ravenscourt!

Sounds like a novel. One of those romances I used to read when I was very young.

To be continued?

Leuconoe | 25.07.09 - 8:41 a.m. | #

Regina Coeli:
As Mr McKie, classics teacher and soul of erudition would have said it: "Reggeena Coe-wellee" (hard G and C), and every letter distinctly enunciated. Caesar was "Yoolius Kaisar" to him.

I know a girl called Regina who lives in the 'Stow who pronounces it "Rejeena". But the late, great drag artiste was Regina Fong ("Rejina").

So how does Digital Doris on the bus say it, and what is the "correct" pronunciation?

kenromford | 26.07.09 - 12:32 p.m. | #

The Regina Coeli is a church anthem, so the church pronunciation should definitely be used.

The 'oe' diphthong is not an obstacle to this; in church Latin it is pronounced the same as a simple 'e', and modifies the 'c' in the same way that an 'e' does. (Though in fact it's often replaced by an 'ae' diphthong anyway, making it 'Caeli'.)

The pronunciation is therefore something like 'Rejeena Chaylee'.

Andrew M | 26.07.09 - 10:49 p.m. | #

Thanks for all this Latin stuff language nerds, as an ex Croydonion I often wondered how this school name was pronounced. My schoolgirl Latin has somehow faded over the years. Don't get me started on the letter 'H', or skedual, grrrrh.

SurreyGirl | 27.07.09 - 3:35 p.m. | #

it's 5) for sure.
At my work, someone ordered 46 door signs for the sound studios at work.

Each one said: "Quite Please".

They were replaced with "Quiet Please" signs a few weeks later.

Hannah | 28.07.09 - 12:21 a.m. | #

Thanks to the comments above I am starting to wonder if Digital Doris is actually pronouncing a generally accepted version of this. Not being a catholic, I had based my comments on my schoolboy and on lawyers' latin (definitely Reg-eye-naa). However, the latter is notorious for being considered bad latin by purists.

Pedantic of Purley | 28.07.09 - 1:11 p.m. | #

Explanation 7: They're going to turn it into Ravens Court, to complement Earl's Court and Barons Court on the same line.

On the same basis, we can probably expect to see Hyde Park Corner and Park Royal become Hyde Park and Royal Park, respectively.

Simon Jester | 02.08.09 - 5:21 p.m. | #

Ah the mind boggles. Old and New, Blackfriars and White, Earls and Kings and Barons, and in deference to the closed, Lancaster and York, Waterloo and Trafalgar and Upminster and Down.

Roy B. | 18.12.11 - 2:33 a.m. | #











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