[x-posted to uk.transport.london]
[original thread on uk.railway]

On Jun 27, 12:34 am, Josie wrote:
Can I have a ticket to Loogahgbaroogah?

http://notalwaysright.com/theyll-nev...ive-welsh/5582

I year or two ago on a busy Sunday afternoon I came across two Polish
guys at the bottom of the escalators in Camden Town tube station
quizzing two puzzled looking LU employees as to how they could get to
"Ladbroke Junction" - no such place they were saying, there's Ladbroke
Grove but not Ladbroke Junction, but the Poles insisted there *was* a
Ladbroke Junction station because they lived there! Having overheard
this whilst deciphering from the displays which platform I should head
for (those au fait with Camden Town will understand), I scratched my
head to try and work out where they were going - they continued to
protest that Ladbroke Junction was very real, whilst the LU chaps
remained politely adamant that there was no such place.

Eventually I clocked it - they wanted Loughborough Junction! Evidently
no-one had told them, and they hadn't picked up on, the correct way to
pronounce the name of the place they lived in - one thing I would
certainly recommend be on the agenda when moving to a new area, even
temporarily! Given the uncertainty over whether or not the Thameslink
service was running, we deemed to direct them to Elephant & Castle
from which they could easily get a bus were there no trains.

But I'm not entirely sure that we adequately impressed on them how to
pronounce it properly, and I'm not entirely convinced they didn't just
think that for these two transport employees and this further
interested gent, this "Ladbroke Junction" simply wasn't really on
their radar.

True story.