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Richard J.

wrote:
Richard J. wrote:
wrote:
Phil Clark wrote:
On 27 Jun 2006 11:25:43 -0700, "Solario"
wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Which is right,
St James' Park (on the signs)
St James Park (in the FGW Timetable)
Pronounced St James's Park, both locally and on the
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Opinion

The first example could be wrong in context. If it is a street
name sign it should read "St James Park". If it is a park name
board then I guess St James' Park could be correct. I would
expect a station name board to follow street name sign
conventions.

Street signs in St James's seem to be consistent in the use of
the spelling St James's. Not sure about the park though,
haven't been that way recently.

This, strictly speaking is incorrect. Street signage by statutory
bodies should NOT contain punctuation.

What is your source for this idiotic rule?

It is several decades since I was in academia. However, I have
understood for many years that this is the convention in English
speaking countries.

I'm not aware of such a convention, and have certainly seen street name
signs with apostrophes in London. There was a 1952 LCC regulation on
street name signs, and the Department of Transport issued a Circular,
number 3/93, giving guidance to local authorities. Neither contains any
reference to punctuation or apostrophes.

In point of fact, BS7666 would seem to formalize this convention
from a local government perspective within the UK.

I don't know how you arrive at that conclusion. BS7666 doesn't concern
itself with actual signs. The NPLG's "BS7666 for beginners", in
discussing how address data should be presented for inclusion in
BS7666-compliant databases, says that "No abbreviations or punctuation
shall be used, except apostrophes, ampersands, hyphens and parentheses
which may be used where they form part of an official name."
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)