London Word Associations?
Dec 5th, 2011, 12:38 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
London Word Associations?
Curious as to what up to 10 words or phrases you would associate with London in your mind?
Mine
Bobbies
The Queen
Thames
Theatre
Red Phone Boxes
Double-decker buses
Black cabs
The Tube
Zebra Stripes
Mind the Gap
YOURS?
Mine
Bobbies
The Queen
Thames
Theatre
Red Phone Boxes
Double-decker buses
Black cabs
The Tube
Zebra Stripes
Mind the Gap
YOURS?
Dec 5th, 2011, 01:16 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 6,144
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I love the 1960s voice of the man saying 'Mind the gap' at Bank. Most of the other 'gap' stations have a more modern recording (by a woman), but there was an outcry when they tried to update the Bank one, so it's been the same bloke for decades. I hope they never change it.
Dec 5th, 2011, 01:47 PM
#7
(Sorry, more than ten...)
blame Roger Miller
<i>England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children</i>
blame Roger Miller
<i>England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children</i>
Dec 5th, 2011, 02:14 PM
#8
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,900
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
London, thou art the flour of Cities all
(William Dunbar, 1465-1530)
(That's 8 words, but if it counts as one phrase then also these)
The Tower
a phoenix
the bridges on the Thames
the Tube (Dogs must be carried and Mind the gap)
the Lungs of London
Shakespeare and Dickens
The British Museum and Library
Westminster (and all that implies)
St. Paul's
(William Dunbar, 1465-1530)
(That's 8 words, but if it counts as one phrase then also these)
The Tower
a phoenix
the bridges on the Thames
the Tube (Dogs must be carried and Mind the gap)
the Lungs of London
Shakespeare and Dickens
The British Museum and Library
Westminster (and all that implies)
St. Paul's
Dec 5th, 2011, 11:00 PM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,920
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From one who lives here:
<i>There is a good service operating on all London Underground lines</i> (There damn well ought to be, that's what we're paying you for, you don't need to sound so smug about it every five minutes)
<i>Unexpected item in bagging area</i> (I'd have thought, by now you'd have learnt not to be so surprised)
<i>There is a good service operating on all London Underground lines</i> (There damn well ought to be, that's what we're paying you for, you don't need to sound so smug about it every five minutes)
<i>Unexpected item in bagging area</i> (I'd have thought, by now you'd have learnt not to be so surprised)
Dec 6th, 2011, 12:09 AM
#11
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
On train departure boards
0830 Little Piddleton on the Wold On time
<i> Yes we know it's now 0845 and the damn thing hasn't turned up. That's because we haven't got the foggiest where it is. Someone's stolen the cable. </i>
At bus stops
11 Aldgate Approaching
<i> From the other side of Oxford Circus. That might take an hour, what with the road works and diversions and all, but the GPS says it's only 50 yds away and I just say what I'm programmed to. Of course, if they close Oxford St altogether again like they did yesterday, it might not actually arrive here ever. But think how many Chinese electronic sign making jobs this system's creating </i>
0830 Little Piddleton on the Wold On time
<i> Yes we know it's now 0845 and the damn thing hasn't turned up. That's because we haven't got the foggiest where it is. Someone's stolen the cable. </i>
At bus stops
11 Aldgate Approaching
<i> From the other side of Oxford Circus. That might take an hour, what with the road works and diversions and all, but the GPS says it's only 50 yds away and I just say what I'm programmed to. Of course, if they close Oxford St altogether again like they did yesterday, it might not actually arrive here ever. But think how many Chinese electronic sign making jobs this system's creating </i>
Dec 6th, 2011, 12:26 AM
#12
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 19,881
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<i>the Tube (Dogs must be carried and Mind the gap)</i>
They do enforce the "dogs must be carried" rule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqXTzZVTs5o
They do enforce the "dogs must be carried" rule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqXTzZVTs5o
Dec 6th, 2011, 12:51 AM
#13
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 18,009
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
alanRow - that is brilliant, thankyou!
London to me means :
a place to be avoided if possible,
noise,
crowds,
traffic chaos,
Jobsworth security guards,
Sundays at least as bad as the other 6 days,
memories of seeing the Christmas lights on Christmas night and being the only ones there,
the Natural History Museum,
Bushey park
Boat trips.
London to me means :
a place to be avoided if possible,
noise,
crowds,
traffic chaos,
Jobsworth security guards,
Sundays at least as bad as the other 6 days,
memories of seeing the Christmas lights on Christmas night and being the only ones there,
the Natural History Museum,
Bushey park
Boat trips.
Dec 6th, 2011, 03:21 AM
#14
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,900
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
(Yes, alanRow, thanks for re-pasting that link. For all who haven't had their daily giggle, click it. I showed that clip to my students before we toured England this past June--it served both as a visual intro to a bit of the Tube and a great intro to British humour! Brilliant, yes.)
Dec 6th, 2011, 08:26 AM
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
and about trains - overground trains - 'the delayed 10:15 is standing at platform 5"
and "Southeast trains regrets to inform..." "and we apologize for any problems this may cause"
and "Southeast trains regrets to inform..." "and we apologize for any problems this may cause"
Dec 6th, 2011, 09:29 AM
#16
"The train to East Grinstead [the final destination of my train home every night] will be delayed indefinitely due to leaves on the line".
"Oxted, Oxted, Oxted" - where I had to get off.
"Pather, late Pather" - the call of the paper seller outside Temple tube station, selling the Evening Standard. Why he couldn't say "paper" will forever remain a mystery.
"Oxted, Oxted, Oxted" - where I had to get off.
"Pather, late Pather" - the call of the paper seller outside Temple tube station, selling the Evening Standard. Why he couldn't say "paper" will forever remain a mystery.
Dec 6th, 2011, 10:38 AM
#17
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"Pather, late Pather"
Now there's a tragedy little discussed at the time
For centuries, (at any rate in England) hawkers used street cries to sing out their wares. Many made it to folk song status (Molly Malone and Cherry Ripe are supposed to have started life as hawkers' street cries).
Evening Standard sellers were really the last survivors: "Standard, Standard, get yer Evening Standard" was the background music to how many of us went home - the remnant of the songs traders once used to sing in all our cities. ("Any old iron? Scrap, rags, old iron" was what the rag and bone man sang along our back entry once a month.)
Then regional newspaper circulation collapsed (a victim of the internet), the Standard went freesheet and in October 2009 the last London street cry was heard.
You still get a hint of it in street markets - but it's more like self-parodying slogans ("Get yer ripe melons. Just a quid a pair") than the melodic chants I grew up with.
Now all gone forever. That Tim Berners-Lee's going to have a lot to answer for when he bumps into St Peter at the Pearly Gates.
Now there's a tragedy little discussed at the time
For centuries, (at any rate in England) hawkers used street cries to sing out their wares. Many made it to folk song status (Molly Malone and Cherry Ripe are supposed to have started life as hawkers' street cries).
Evening Standard sellers were really the last survivors: "Standard, Standard, get yer Evening Standard" was the background music to how many of us went home - the remnant of the songs traders once used to sing in all our cities. ("Any old iron? Scrap, rags, old iron" was what the rag and bone man sang along our back entry once a month.)
Then regional newspaper circulation collapsed (a victim of the internet), the Standard went freesheet and in October 2009 the last London street cry was heard.
You still get a hint of it in street markets - but it's more like self-parodying slogans ("Get yer ripe melons. Just a quid a pair") than the melodic chants I grew up with.
Now all gone forever. That Tim Berners-Lee's going to have a lot to answer for when he bumps into St Peter at the Pearly Gates.
