First few days in London, I was walking around positively radiant with ignorance. I didn't know anything really, which is a strangely wonderful position to be in. But travelling on the tube, you can learn a little. Like the 'proper' way to pronounce places.The spellings for instance are simple enough, but the pronunciation just don't follow the spelling. English has always been funny that way, but it gets funnier in London.
Borough pronounced 'Barra' or Streatham as 'Strethum' and Leicester is a simple 'Lester', Southwark is 'Sutherk' and Chiswick is 'Chizik'
On longer tube journeys I end up looking at the map above and wonder what places like 'Burnt Oak' or 'Chalk Farm' look like, and giggle at stations with names like 'Cockfosters' or 'Mudchute' and I swear the first time I did read it as 'St Pancreas' and 'DunDonald road' has a nice ring to it!
I now recall Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' in which all the characters are named after London underground stations.
Borough pronounced 'Barra' or Streatham as 'Strethum' and Leicester is a simple 'Lester', Southwark is 'Sutherk' and Chiswick is 'Chizik'
On longer tube journeys I end up looking at the map above and wonder what places like 'Burnt Oak' or 'Chalk Farm' look like, and giggle at stations with names like 'Cockfosters' or 'Mudchute' and I swear the first time I did read it as 'St Pancreas' and 'DunDonald road' has a nice ring to it!
I now recall Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' in which all the characters are named after London underground stations.
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