Historical version 17 of Easily Made Mistakes (view current version)

London has some peculiarities in how parts of it are named, which can catch out those who are new to London.

Terms for London often confused

  • Greater London is the area made up of 32 London boroughs together with the the City of London. This is one of the nine regions of England.
  • [City of Westminster]? is one of the London boroughs. The 'city' status of Westminster is purely honorific.
  • [Kensington & Chelsea]? and [Kingston upon Thames]? are also London boroughs which have 'royal borough' status. The status is purely honorific.
  • [Inner London]? is a defined term meaning those boroughs in the area that was part of the historic County of London (1889-1965). Sometimes the term is used with negative connotations but it includes rich and poor areas alike.
  • [Central London]? is an often used but vaguely defined term referring to the most central districts.
  • [Outer London]? is a defined term meaning those boroughs that are not in the area that was part of the historic County of London (1889-1965).
  • [London postal area]? is the area that has "London" in postal addreses. It includes all of Inner London and about half of Outer London and goes beyond the London boundary in only one place (near Chingford).
  • London Assembly are a group of politicians who scrutinise and approve his plans and budgets.
  • [Lord Mayor]? of London is a mostly honorific role and is leader of the Corporation of London who govern the City of London.
  • The 020 area code does not cover all of London and extends beyond the London boundary in several places. Numbers are issued starting with 3, 7 and 8 and can be assigned anywhere in the 020 area.
  • There are no 0207, 0208 or 0203 codes, just one - 020.

Other mistakes

  • [Tottenham Court Road is not in [Tottenham|Tottenham]], which itself should not be confused with [Tattenham]?.
  • [Edgware]? is nowhere near Edgware Road Station (see A5 for more on the Edgware Road itself). Generally, "X Road" means "the road that goes to X"; by the time it gets to X, it'll have changed its name to be "(where you started from) Road". This doesn't generally apply to names ending in street, though. Go figure.
  • [Northfields]? is not near [Southfields]?.
  • The names of English towns are by no means unique, for example, there are two Ashfords, one in [Locale Middlesex]?, near [Heathrow Airport, and the other in Kent. The same can also be true of London districts. There are two Plaistows, one in Newham, the one with a [tube station|Plaistow Station]], and the other in Kent, near Beckenham. To be unambiguous about place names, quote the postal district or London borough.



Tube bloopers

  • Always use the full name of the station when buying a ticket, i.e. Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, not Leicester or Piccadilly. The exception to this rule is King's Cross St Pancras, which is unambiguously abbreviated to King's Cross.
    • There is an urban legend tale of an American tourist being sold a ticket to Manchester Piccadilly, when they wanted a ticket to Piccadilly Circus.
    • I was approached by a foreign tourist asking for directions to 'Liverpool' at a tube station recently. It took quite a while for me to help him understand the difference between Liverpool and Liverpool Street. (Tom Morris)

For more examples see the page Adjacent Stations.

  • Bank and Monument stations are actually only one station - with internal interchanges and two different names at the platform. Be warned though it's an awfully long trek between them and infested with [buskers]?.

Can anybody think of any others?


Confusing terminology

English language usage has evolved differently, on each side of the Atlantic. An American may be used, in a restaurant, to settling the check with a bill, whereas in England, you can pay your restaurant bill with a cheque.

  • Subway - In England, a subway is a pedestrian walkway which takes you underneath a busy road. There is no Tube station there unless the signs indicate this.
  • Pavement - In England, this is the word for a sidewalk or trottoir. In America, the word "pavement" is used to refer to any asphalted surface suitable for driving vehicles over, such as a car park or a road! Talking to an American about walking on the pavement might give them undue concerns for your safety.

See id=1328154 this page on Everything2 for more examples of confusing terms.

Other mistakes

A commonly made mistake is to assume the most ornate bridge with the lifting spans is London Bridge. It's not, it's Tower Bridge. London Bridge is a plain structure.

London has some peculiarities in how parts of it are named, which can catch out those who are new to London.

  • [Tottenham Court Road is not in [Tottenham|Tottenham]], which itself should not be confused with [Tattenham]?.
  • [Edgware]? is nowhere near Edgware Road Station (see A5 for more on the Edgware Road itself). Generally, "X Road" means "the road that goes to X"; by the time it gets to X, it'll have changed its name to be "(where you started from) Road". This doesn't generally apply to names ending in street, though. Go figure.
  • [Northfields]? is not near [Southfields]?.
  • The names of English towns are by no means unique, for example, there are two Ashfords, one in [Locale Middlesex]?, near [Heathrow Airport, and the other in Kent. The same can also be true of London districts. There are two Plaistows, one in Newham, the one with a [tube station|Plaistow Station]], and the other in Kent, near Beckenham. To be unambiguous about place names, quote the postal district or London borough.



Tube bloopers

  • Always use the full name of the station when buying a ticket, i.e. Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, not Leicester or Piccadilly. The exception to this rule is King's Cross St Pancras, which is unambiguously abbreviated to King's Cross.
    • There is an urban legend tale of an American tourist being sold a ticket to Manchester Piccadilly, when they wanted a ticket to Piccadilly Circus.
    • I was approached by a foreign tourist asking for directions to 'Liverpool' at a tube station recently. It took quite a while for me to help him understand the difference between Liverpool and Liverpool Street. (Tom Morris)

For more examples see the page Adjacent Stations.

  • Bank and Monument stations are actually only one station - with internal interchanges and two different names at the platform. Be warned though it's an awfully long trek between them and infested with [buskers]?.

Can anybody think of any others?


Confusing terminology

English language usage has evolved differently, on each side of the Atlantic. An American may be used, in a restaurant, to settling the check with a bill, whereas in England, you can pay your restaurant bill with a cheque.

  • Subway - In England, a subway is a pedestrian walkway which takes you underneath a busy road. There is no Tube station there unless the signs indicate this.
  • Pavement - In England, this is the word for a sidewalk or trottoir. In America, the word "pavement" is used to refer to any asphalted surface suitable for driving vehicles over, such as a car park or a road! Talking to an American about walking on the pavement might give them undue concerns for your safety.

See id=1328154 this page on Everything2 for more examples of confusing terms.

Other mistakes

A commonly made mistake is to assume the most ornate bridge with the lifting spans is London Bridge. It's not, it's Tower Bridge. London Bridge is a plain structure.

This is version 17 (as of 2005-10-24 23:56:10). View current version. List all versions.