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-   -   St Johns Wood or St John's Wood? (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/4234-st-johns-wood-st-johns.html)

JMUpton2000 June 21st 06 01:24 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
Something I wondered as I took a rare journey north of Baker Street on the
Jubilee Line the other day.

The on board scrolling displays and the tube maps say it is spelt St John's
Wood with apostrophe but the platform roundels omit it.

So which is right?

Regards
John M Upton



Mark Brader June 21st 06 02:12 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
John Upton:
The on board scrolling displays and the tube maps say it is spelt St John's
Wood with apostrophe but the platform roundels omit it.


"San John's Wood"? Interesting variation. :-)

So which is right?


Either, both, or neither, as you wish. There is no single definitive
source for the "true" name of an Underground station, and many stations
have had this sort of variation.

Of course, if the station was named after something, and *that* has an
official or universally used spelling, you might take that to be indicative...
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Just because it's correct doesn't
make it right!" -- Jonas Schlein

Dave Arquati June 21st 06 09:37 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
Mark Brader wrote:
John Upton:
The on board scrolling displays and the tube maps say it is spelt St John's
Wood with apostrophe but the platform roundels omit it.


"San John's Wood"? Interesting variation. :-)

So which is right?


Either, both, or neither, as you wish. There is no single definitive
source for the "true" name of an Underground station, and many stations
have had this sort of variation.


Logic would suggest that St John's Wood is more likely to be correct,
because the wood then belongs to St John, rather than being a wood
consisting of multiple "St John"s, or named after "St Johns"...

....whereas Earl's Court or Barons Court could reasonably have their
counterpart spellings, given that a court might either belong to an earl
or a baron, or be composed of multiples thereof.

My local Shepherd's Bush always bugs me, because although most Tube maps
show it "correctly", buses rarely do - partly because although the
location seems to be officially named "Shepherd's Bush" and the green
space is called "Shepherd's Bush Common", the road that runs along the
southeastern and western sides of the Common is apparently "Shepherds
Bush Green"*. Argh!

I can understand how a bush would *belong* to a Shepherd, but a bush
composed of shepherds? Or maybe even "bush" is a verb... dogs bark,
sheep bleat, shepherds bush?

Of course, if the station was named after something, and *that* has an
official or universally used spelling, you might take that to be indicative...


* depending on which maps you consult (A-Z or Bart's) and whether you
prefer the LB Hammersmith & Fulham's usage (which rarely includes an
apostrophe on anything Bush-related).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Tim Roll-Pickering June 21st 06 09:48 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
JMUpton2000 wrote:

Something I wondered as I took a rare journey north of Baker Street on the
Jubilee Line the other day.


The on board scrolling displays and the tube maps say it is spelt St
John's Wood with apostrophe but the platform roundels omit it.


So which is right?


Both, neither who knows.

On Wikipedia the principle that a lot are generally happy with (at least the
last time I'm aware this came up) is to use the current tube map spelling on
the basis that station decorations take a lot longer to change and some
platforms use multiple stations (e.g. King's Cross St. Pancras
Circle/H&C/Met) so this is the only real consistent standard.



Richard M Willis June 21st 06 10:49 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 

"JMUpton2000" securitynovels @ freeuk.com wrote in message
reenews.net...
Something I wondered as I took a rare journey north of Baker Street on the
Jubilee Line the other day.

The on board scrolling displays and the tube maps say it is spelt St

John's
Wood with apostrophe but the platform roundels omit it.

So which is right?


Both and Neither. LUL stations are full of anomalies like this.
D Rose's Diagrammatic History has notes on the subject. There are
many places where station names have mutated and had the "suffix gradually
dropped".

E.g. Totteridge and Whetstone is called simply Totteridge on the actual
station; there is no mention of "and Whetstone" in the station's
name anywhere at that station other than on the system-wide maps.





Regards
John M Upton





--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com


Richard M Willis June 21st 06 10:50 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 

"John B" wrote in message

"To court" is a verb, and barons is a legitimate plural...having
"green" as a verb would be pushing it a bit, though.


I hope there won't be a LUL station called Ghosts Forge

Richard [in SG19]



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com


Paul Terry June 21st 06 11:20 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
In message .com,
" writes

BARONS COURT / Barons Court (not so much an anomaly as simply both
being wrong, with the absence of an apostrophe)
PARSONS GREEN / Parsons Green (ditto)


Most place names are far older than the apostrophe, which was a
16th-century invention. For instance, Parsons Green never appears with
an apostrophe on old maps or other documents, even well after the 16th
century.

It is the rather haphazard modernisation of spellings over the years
that has resulted in many of the anomalous uses of apostrophes.

But Barons Court is an exception - it was a name invented just over 100
years ago. It didn't have an apostrophe then, and there is no real
reason to add one now.

--
Paul Terry

James Farrar June 21st 06 11:22 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
On 21 Jun 2006 01:34:59 -0700, "
wrote:

Have a look at the following, PLACE / Station name anomalies:

EARLS COURT / Earl's Court
BARONS COURT / Barons Court (not so much an anomaly as simply both
being wrong, with the absence of an apostrophe)


But "Baron's Court Road".

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

John Rowland June 21st 06 11:30 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
John B wrote:
wrote:

BARONS COURT / Barons Court (not so much an anomaly as simply both
being wrong, with the absence of an apostrophe)
PARSONS GREEN / Parsons Green (ditto)


"To court" is a verb, and barons is a legitimate plural...having
"green" as a verb would be pushing it a bit, though.


You can write "persons unknown" or "malice aforethought", so why not
"parsons green"?



thoss June 21st 06 11:55 AM

St Johns Wood or St John's Wood?
 
On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 John Rowland wrote:

John B wrote:
wrote:

BARONS COURT / Barons Court (not so much an anomaly as simply both
being wrong, with the absence of an apostrophe)
PARSONS GREEN / Parsons Green (ditto)


"To court" is a verb, and barons is a legitimate plural...having
"green" as a verb would be pushing it a bit, though.


You can write "persons unknown" or "malice aforethought", so why not
"parsons green"?

Have you ever seen a green parson?
--
Thoss


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