segunda-feira, março 23, 2009

What’s in a name?


Vi o livro na Waterstones em Greenwich, perto da caixa e achei curioso. Na maioria das vezes aceitamos os nomes e símbolos como são e depois um dia compreendemos o motivo. Lembro-me de um dia olhar para o símbolo da CGD e ver... as letras CGD, pois claro, duh. Ou de “perceber” que Entrecampos estava entre o Campo Pequeno e o Campo Grande, óbvio. E que o símbolo da SUN diz SUN nos 4 sentidos (como o dos ponteiros do relógio).
Quando quis comprar o livro deu trabalho lembrar o nome e descobrir o título exacto ou autor. Teria sido fácil se tivesse ido ao site do TFL. Há qualquer coisa no mapa do metro de Londres que me atrai, é motivo frequente nos souvenirs mas tenho resistido, não preciso de mais um avental, nem tabuleiro de cozinha, nem uso boxers, uma caneca não tem o mapa todo...
É interessante, tamanho bom para ler no bus. Algumas referências do metro:
BlackfriarsThis area takes its name from the colour of the habits worn by the friars of a Dominican monastery who were known as the Black Friars. (…)
Canary Wharf was built in 1936 and the then owners of the wharf Fruit Lines Limited built a warehouse for their imports of fruits from the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean in 1937, hence the name. (…)
Covent Garden was originally the walled enclosure and garden belonging to the monks of Westminster Abbey (…)
London Bridge – (…) The poem which opens “London Bridge is falling down” refers to the Battle in 1014 between King Aethelred of the English and the Danes, after which the bridge collapsed. London recorded as Londinium c.115 is a Celtic place-name probably formed from a personal name Londinos – meaning “the bold one”. Quando era pequena ouvia esta e outras canções de uma k7, e durante anos pensei que a London Bridge fosse a Tower Bridge, porque aparecia nos livros e era em Londres, pois claro!
Oxford Circus takes its name from Oxford Street of which it forms a part. This was the old road to Oxford in 1682 (…)
Piccadilly CircusThe name Piccadilly is probably derived from the Pickadilly Hall, the popular name of a house built in c.1611 near Windmill Street by a retired tailor, Robert Baker, who made much of his fortune by the sale of “pickadillies”, a form of collar or ruff. The street was known as Portugal Street in 1692 in honour of Catharine de Braganza, the Queen of CharlesII (…)
Waterloo was named in commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo (1815). (…)
Whitechapel takes its name from the white stone chapel of St Mary Matfelon, first built in 1329, then rebuilt three times, until bombed in 1940 and finally demolished in 1952. (…)
Do DLR:
Cutty Sark is the name, of course, of the famous sailing ship, now preserved near the station in dry dock. This is one of the few surviving tea clippers of the nineteenth century. Built at Dumbarton, Scotland (in 1869) she was engaged on the China tea trade. Later, on the Australian grain run, she achieved a new sailing record of 73 days for the London-Sydney passage. The station was opened on the 20 November 1999.

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