Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Station Name Pronunciation

You've probably seen a number of ads for Google's voice search for mobile popping up around the London Underground & National Rail. They kind of phoenetically spell out words how they could be pronounced. So you'll see popular search terms like "brey-king nyooz", "weh-thuh for-karst" and the like, but I particularly like the station specific ones.

Google Piccadilly Circus Ad

I saw this for Piccadilly Circus last night and @iamjamesward also saw one at Worcester Park station or rather "Woo-stah pahrk".

This got me thinking that maybe the Tube could do with some phoenetic signs for some station names. I always have a problem with saying Holborn. I tend to say "Whole Born" even though I know it should be "Ho Bun" - well at least I think it should be that. It's certainly how the automated announcer pronounces it.

There's a guy at my home station who constantly announces that District Line trains are going to "Upminister". I'm sure we've all bumped into our fair share of tourists (usually from across the pond) who ask how to get to "Lie Sess Ter Square".

Are there any particular stations that are pronounced in ways that annoy you?  Or any stations that you think are commonly mis-pronounced & people need a helping hand with?

Update - @callummay spotted the Google Ad for Ruislip station. So looks like Google agreed with the comments that it was one people needed help with!

Ruislip Google Ad by Callummay

Keep the suggestions and any station name pictures coming - thanks!

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