Use of the English language

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

<pedant alert>
OK, so I failed English Language O'Level three times before finally passing it, but should this not read "Station FOR the Glastonbury Festival"
</pedant alert>

[JontyMort]

<pedant alert>
OK, so I failed English Language O'Level three times before finally passing it, but should this not read "Station FOR the Glastonbury Festival"
</pedant alert>

Surely, in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)-speak, it would be Glastonbury Road?

[Bmblbzzz]

Station of the Glastonbury Festival suggests sponsorship. Something along the lines of "Hula Hoops are the official snack of the England cricket team," though in this case I'm not sure if it's a case of "GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is the official railway of Glastonbury Festival" or "Glastonbury is the official festival of GWR". Okay, in reality it's more likely to be Glastonbury Festival organisers paying for some colourful signs (and in the case of this photo, a rainbow!) and maybe some hanging baskets or maybe more appropriately boot scrapers.

(And just to be really pedantic:

<pedant alert>
OK, so I failed English Language O'Level three times before finally passing it, but should this not read "Station FOR the Glastonbury Festival"
</pedant alert>

Is O'Level an Irishman from Somerset? Maybe U2 or the Waterboys playing at Glastonbury!  )

[Red Squirrel]

Perhaps we should ask the Department of Transport... or the Department for Transport, as it is now...

[grahame]

Now ... me thinks that an "Overbridge to Bath and Bristol" is going to be a very long bridge from Trowbridge.  Perhaps proper English should be "Over the bridge for trains to Bath Spa and Bristol"

[TonyK]

More correct still, possibly almost within Rees-Mogg bounds, could be "A bridge over the railway tracks to access the platform for trains towards Bristol and Bath". But I think signmakers charge by the word.

[paul7575]

A Trowbridge too far? 

Paul

[Red Squirrel]

In signage, good English (other languages are available) is that which quickly, clearly and concisely conveys an unambiguous meaning.

Some readers may lament it, but 'Train Station' can only mean one thing. Similarly the meaning of 'There will be less trains on Monday due to engineering work' is crystal-clear, though grammar Nazis will wince and insist that it should be 'fewer'.

Words are living things. Journeys no longer have to take a day, butt-dialling is a thing, and friend is a verb...

...and 'Cross bridge for trains to Bristol and Bath' would have been more clear.

[PhilWakely]

...
Some readers may lament it, but 'Train Station' can only mean one thing......

How do you train a station?  To do what?

In the same vein............. 'Time flies'

..... like an arrow;
..... with a stopwatch;
..... do not eat herbs.

etc, etc

[Bmblbzzz]

...
Some readers may lament it, but 'Train Station' can only mean one thing......

How do you train a station?  To do what?

In the same vein............. 'Time flies'

..... like an arrow;
..... with a stopwatch;
..... do not eat hverbs.

etc, etc

FTFY 

[Red Squirrel]

Happy days.

Anyone remember 'Daktari', starring Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion? Imagine how we chortled at school, when they asked us to sing a song about Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear.

[TonyK]

Happy days.

Anyone remember 'Daktari', starring Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion? Imagine how we chortled at school, when they asked us to sing a song about Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear.

Slightly more modernly, I struggled with the Moody Blues smash hit "Question", until many years later I read the lyrics, and found they were singing about "the secrets of our souls".

[chuffed]

In my teaching days as a junior school teacher who played the piano, I took hymn practice on a Thursday morning. The last one of term was always 'requests'....and I always remember one little girl who asked for 'Lord of the damn settee....!. I think she was referring to her older brother who always wanted to be on the sofa with his x box.......

[didcotdean]

The use of the American alphabet song confuses some young children over "ellemnopee" not taking it in as five separate letters.

[patch38]

Slightly more modernly, I struggled with the Moody Blues smash hit "Question", until many years later I read the lyrics, and found they were singing about "the secrets of our souls".

Oh, deep joy: we are straying back to the Misheard Lyrics feature on Noel Edmonds' Radio 1 Breakfast Show in the 1970s. A random selection that remain lodged in the dark recesses of my mind include:

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - "Spare him his life from his pork sausage tea" and, of course, "Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard".

Kenny Rogers - Lucille - "Four hundred children and a cr*p in the field".

Gene Cotton - Me and the Elephant - "We went down to the city zoo, just to kill an owl or two".

Carpenters - "The best love songs are written with a broken arm".

And so many more that are now legendary...