"Train Station"?

[Percy Main]

We hate the term of 'train station' because it reminds us of 'train-spotting' and 'train sets', and we prefer 'railway enthusiast' and 'model railway'. But to most people it just seems as reasonable as 'bus station'.

The next thing, of course, will be to call unstaffed stations 'train stops'.

[Mickey]

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[richard]

I still don't get the big deal. A bus station is a bus station, not a "road station"!

There are bigger issues and grievances in the world than this remarkably minor alleged change in language (I've known train station as common usage as long as I've been around, and I'm in my 40s).

[kudu]

The rot set in when people started calling it the "railway". Any Victorian will tell you it should be "railroad".

Kudu

[Mickey]

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[richard]

But the concept of a single correct term is a figment of your imagination. There is more than one 'correct' name.

If you want to go back to a perceived original usage, I hope you are using 'railroad' or 'waggonway', and you use a lot of 'z's in words ('z' spellings were common English spellings as recently as the 1950s).

[PinzaC55]

But the concept of a single correct term is a figment of your imagination. There is more than one 'correct' name.

So it would be ok for me to call a table a chair?

and you use a lot of 'z's in words ('z' spellings were common English spellings as recently as the 1950s).

Example please? Personally I resist Google Spellcheck's efforts to get me to talk "American" (there is of course no such language) so I call a "disk" a "disc" and a "program" a "programme".

[PinzaC55]

Come to think of it, if every last one of the Earths population decide to call a railway station a "train station" and intersperse "like" between every other word in their speech, I will continue to be a standard bearer. There are few reasons to be proud to be British nowadays but our language is one of those few.

[richard]

A lot of English English (English authors and publishers) were using 'z'. Of course 'z' as the most common spelling predates 's' anyway whether it survived into the 1950s or not.

Chair/table: You are deliberately missing my point. I think that pretty much sums the pettiness of the whole thing. The English language is not fixed and never has been. *That* is why it is a great language that has survived so long.

[StevieG]

Come to think of it, if every last one of the Earths population decide to call a railway station a "train station" and intersperse "like" between every other word in their speech, I will continue to be a standard bearer. There are few reasons to be proud to be British nowadays but our language is one of those few.

I think I "kinda" agree with you. (?)
But I can "suduv" see Richard's view as well.
I suppose we're talking about generational preferences in the face of etymological [ 'Ooh! That's a good word; must make a note of it.' (E.Wise) ] evolution.

[PinzaC55]

A lot of English English (English authors and publishers) were using 'z'. Of course 'z' as the most common spelling predates 's' anyway whether it survived into the 1950s or not.

Chair/table: You are deliberately missing my point. I think that pretty much sums the pettiness of the whole thing. The English language is not fixed and never has been. *That* is why it is a great language that has survived so long.

I don't think you have a point to miss. This was meant to be a fairly light hearted thread to reflect one of my "grumpy old man" pet peeves and you are turning it into http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixgc_FGam3s

[Mickey]

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[PinzaC55]

The next American tourist that comes up to me and asks me "Which way to Kings Cross railroad depot mac?". I'm gonna clobber!!.

Only joking folks.

Send him to the old Kings Cross goods depot where he can play with the rats.

[giner]

Up here in the Great White North (that's Canada to the uninitiated) it's a mish-mash of English and American spellings, so I've become 'bilingual' to an extent. When I was proofreading for a living I'd regularly query an author's occasional American spelling and, for the most part, they'd go along with the English correction/suggestion. In some way I felt I was championing the English language.

Despite my 'bilingualisation' (spelled with an 's' you'll note), I can not tolerate the pronunciation of the letter 'z' as 'zee'. But that, in American, is a whole nuther subject.

[Mickey]

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