Trapping people in their villages

[whole diary]

[Oxonhutch]

Insidious American spelling like color, signaling and program! I blame Bill Gates  . Don't get me started on 'train station'.

[Tim]

Insidious American spelling like color, signaling and program! I blame Bill Gates  . Don't get me started on 'train station'.

"Train Station" is the usual form in the North West of England.  If you had said "Railway Station" at my comp, you would have been thought a bit "posh"

[Tim]

Also wouldn't the most common American term be Railroad Station? 

[Red Squirrel]

We have been round this one before: 'Train station' is fairly recent and does originate from the other side of the pond, but is superseding both the old US term 'railroad station' and the old UK^▸ (United Kingdom) term 'railway station'. Personally I'm happy with this, as it is a logical change to the language - not something you could say about Noah Webster's spelling reforms, that give us 'license' as a noun whilst keeping the correct spelling of 'advice' as a noun.

[PhilWakely]

Also wouldn't the most common American term be Railroad Station? 

Railroad Depot ('Dee-poh')

[Red Squirrel]

Ah; here's what we all said about this last time:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=13952.0

[Tim]

Ah; here's what we all said about this last time:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=13952.0

almost exactly what we have said this time.  That there has certainly been a fairly recent change.  That suspicion falls on America, but they may be innocent (and experiencing an analogous shift from Railroad Station to Train Station).  That there are arguments in favour of either term and that people have their own preference.

The Russians meanwhile use vokzal (Вокзал) for (main) Railway Station/Train Station.  This seems to come from the English place name Vauxhall, either because Vauxhall Station in London (later Nine Elms) was the first station a group of Russian dignitaries and/or the Tsar had ever seen or (more likely, I suspect) because an early Russian station was located and named after a local pleasure gardens which was in turn named after London's Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

A less important Russian Station is called a станция (stantsiya) which translates as "Station" or "Stage" and is used for work station, space station, etc in addition to Railway Station.

[Chris from Nailsea]

A bus station is where a bus stops.  A train station is where a train stops.  On my desk, I have a work station. 

[bobm]

Wonder if I could call my cocktail cabinet a drinks station......

[ellendune]

Wonder if I could call my cocktail cabinet a drinks station......

Only if drinks stop there!

[grahame]

Does not the term "station" derive from the word "stationary" and indicate a place where some form stoppage is the headline reason for its existence?

[Phil]

Latin I believe; comes from statiō which means standing still.

[Rhydgaled]

A bus station is where a bus stops.  A train station is where a train stops.  On my desk, I have a work station. 

The network cable connecting it to other machines on your company's computer network stops there 

However, not everywhere a bus stops is called a 'bus station'. They also stop at 'bus stops' and sometimes by request almost anywhere along their route (I tend to think nearly every bus route should do the latter).

[Fourbee]

However, not everywhere a bus stops is called a 'bus station'. They also stop at 'bus stops' and sometimes by request almost anywhere along their route (I tend to think nearly every bus route should do the latter).

I tend not to risk it even at "Bus Stops" and stick my arm out!

[Chris from Nailsea]

In the past, I have enjoyed putting my arm out in a clear signal to the driver of a passenger train approaching Dilton Marsh Halt that I would like him to stop.  How quaint!