9 ms·

I find some joy in historical street naming. It's nice that you can take a 1746 map of London and pretty much still be able to get around.[1] Would certainly ma

by thebrid 6mo ago

I find some joy in historical street naming. It's nice that you can take a 1746 map of London and pretty much still be able to get around.[1] Would certainly make life easier for time travellers. While there are advantages to grid layouts, I find they also bring a certain amount of monotony. The irregular historic street layouts of European (and some US) cities give so much more variety & make the city much more interesting. [1] https://maps.nls.uk/view/245956114#zoom=6.5&lat=3256&lon=6251&layers=BT https://maps.nls.uk/view/245956114#zoom=6.5&lat=3256&lon=625...

bombcar 6mo ago
> Would certainly make life easier for time travellers. Doesn't one of CS Lewis's books have Merlin transported to modern London and he heads off down the Roman roads? Grid layouts do have efficiency, but humans aren't built to be efficient - at least not all the time. The problem is suburbs and modern "inefficient" roads are designed to be inefficient - not designed by and for life.
- thaumasiotes 6mo ago
  > Doesn't one of CS Lewis's books have Merlin transported to modern London and he heads off down the Roman roads? Persistence over time wouldn't make any difference to that case; Merlin is omniscient.
- graemep 6mo ago
  Modern England, but not London. Revived from hibernation like sleep. The book is That Hideous Strength. The last book in a trilogy and unfortunately the best IMO - and it feels very relevant and farsighted to me now.
seanhunter 6mo ago
Yes. Additionally you realise the original purpose of streets (eg “love lane” in the city of London near the old guildhall is a particular favourite of mine). https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8431660 https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8431660 Happens to be near "wood lane". Make of that what you will. I studied on "Silk Street" which is nearby. Nearby are also "Oat Street", "Bread Street", "Milk street", "Gutter lane", "Goldsmith street", "Poultry" and many more who have old names relating to their function.
- riffraff 6mo ago
  The "odd" location names in London are a fun plot point in Garman's "neverwhere" novel, tho he focuses on tube stops (black friars, shepherd's bush, kings cross etc). I like those but IME most people have no clue what old names mean, they are just sounds associated with a place most of the time.
  - gnabgib 6mo ago
    Niel Gaiman's Neverwhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwhere_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwhere_(novel)
- bcraven 6mo ago
  Imagine finding this in the US... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane
  - seanhunter 6mo ago
    Indeed.
  - Freak_NL 6mo ago
    Sounds like a good name for renaming the President Donald J. Trump Boulevard leading up to Mar-A-Lago when the current bout of totalitarianism over there ends.
    - finghin 6mo ago
      > In "The Miller's Tale", Geoffrey Chaucer writes "And prively he caughte hire by the queynte" (and intimately he caught her by her crotch),[14] and the comedy Philotus (1603) mentions "put doun thy hand and graip hir cunt." It turns out “grab her by the pussy” has surpringly robust precedent.

by thebrid 6mo ago

bombcar 6mo ago

> Would certainly make life easier for time travellers. Doesn't one of CS Lewis's books have Merlin transported to modern London and he heads off down the Roman roads? Grid layouts do have efficiency, but humans aren't built to be efficient - at least not all the time. The problem is suburbs and modern "inefficient" roads are designed to be inefficient - not designed by and for life.

thaumasiotes 6mo ago
> Doesn't one of CS Lewis's books have Merlin transported to modern London and he heads off down the Roman roads? Persistence over time wouldn't make any difference to that case; Merlin is omniscient.
graemep 6mo ago
Modern England, but not London. Revived from hibernation like sleep. The book is That Hideous Strength. The last book in a trilogy and unfortunately the best IMO - and it feels very relevant and farsighted to me now.

seanhunter 6mo ago

Yes. Additionally you realise the original purpose of streets (eg “love lane” in the city of London near the old guildhall is a particular favourite of mine). https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8431660 https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8431660 Happens to be near "wood lane". Make of that what you will. I studied on "Silk Street" which is nearby. Nearby are also "Oat Street", "Bread Street", "Milk street", "Gutter lane", "Goldsmith street", "Poultry" and many more who have old names relating to their function.

riffraff 6mo ago
The "odd" location names in London are a fun plot point in Garman's "neverwhere" novel, tho he focuses on tube stops (black friars, shepherd's bush, kings cross etc). I like those but IME most people have no clue what old names mean, they are just sounds associated with a place most of the time.
- gnabgib 6mo ago
  Niel Gaiman's Neverwhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwhere_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwhere_(novel)
bcraven 6mo ago
Imagine finding this in the US... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane
- seanhunter 6mo ago
  Indeed.
- Freak_NL 6mo ago
  Sounds like a good name for renaming the President Donald J. Trump Boulevard leading up to Mar-A-Lago when the current bout of totalitarianism over there ends.
  - finghin 6mo ago
    > In "The Miller's Tale", Geoffrey Chaucer writes "And prively he caughte hire by the queynte" (and intimately he caught her by her crotch),[14] and the comedy Philotus (1603) mentions "put doun thy hand and graip hir cunt." It turns out “grab her by the pussy” has surpringly robust precedent.