"loobyloo" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:56:57 -0700, Louis Krupp wrote:
I also recall the time (I don't remember the year) when I went to a
ticket window at Glasgow Central, asked about a train to Glasgow, and
was told the next one would leave in a couple of hours. So I waited. I
learned about the 15-minute walk to Glasgow Queen Street on a later trip.
Hello Louis
I used to work as a ticket collector on London Underground, and one thing
I
noticed about visitors from north America is that they would often
truncate
the station name they wanted directions for. So for example, they often
asked me for the way to "Liverpool".
That's because it's quite common in the US to call streets by their name,
and omit the "boulevard/street/whatever" that comes after it. I have
American friends in London, and they do it all the time. Doing it with road
names is pretty silly, considering most colloquial names for old roads are
simply the terminating town/city of the road, followed usually by "road".
Of course, dropping the "road" changes things considerably. "Essex Road"
becomes "Essex", which is an entirely different kettle of fish
After a while you realise they mean the tube station "Liverpool Street",
but "Liverpool" is a large city in northwest England, so the question is a
bit ambiguous. I mean, you're doing it yourself there, by saying you were
asking the way to "Glasgow", when what I presume you meant was "Glasgow
Queen Street" It would be good if visitors from the US and Canada
could
be encouraged to use the full names of the stations they want to go to.
I'm surprised about your experience in Glasgow though. That must just
have
been bad luck, because I go up there often and my experience is that
people
in Glasgow are generally very helpful and honest.
--
Cliff Laine, The Old Lard Factory, Lancaster http://www.loobynet.com
* remove any trace of rudeness before you reply *
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The greatest achievement of the thinkers of the Sixties was
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Luc Ferry and Alain Renault