Fun facts

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

14 hours ago, tamthebam said:

Mediaeval maps had Jerusalem in the middle as that was the Holy City.

If you think about it cosmologically there's no reason why North should be "up" and South "down"

In New York, the Bronx is up and the Battery's down.

[Newbornbairn]

I've got a colleague who lives in Glasgow.  He constantly talks about driving "up" to Newcastle and "down" to Aberdeen.  I'm convinced he's doing it to drive me into an apoplexy-induced heart attack so he can get my job. 

[Richey Edwards]

3 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

I've got a colleague who lives in Glasgow.  He constantly talks about driving "up" to Newcastle and "down" to Aberdeen.  I'm convinced he's doing it to drive me into an apoplexy-induced heart attack so he can get my job. 

If your job can be stolen by someone who lives in Glasgow, is it really worth having?

[GordonD]

1 hour ago, Newbornbairn said:

I've got a colleague who lives in Glasgow.  He constantly talks about driving "up" to Newcastle and "down" to Aberdeen.  I'm convinced he's doing it to drive me into an apoplexy-induced heart attack so he can get my job. 

That's railway talk. Trains always go 'up' to London, regardless of what direction they're travelling.

[Mark Connolly]

25 minutes ago, GordonD said:

That's railway talk. Trains always go 'up' to London, regardless of what direction they're travelling.

That's the pish about the "front train" and the "rear train" isn't it?

The front train is the one closest to London, rather than the nearest one as you get to the platform

[Melanius Mullarkey]

2 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

That's the pish about the "front train" and the "rear train" isn't it?

The front train is the one closest to London, rather than the nearest one as you get to the platform

What if it’s a train going left to right?

[Newbornbairn]

1 hour ago, GordonD said:

That's railway talk. Trains always go 'up' to London, regardless of what direction they're travelling.

Ah, you may be onto something here. He worked for Scotrail for a while. 

[Newbornbairn]

35 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

That's the pish about the "front train" and the "rear train" isn't it?

The front train is the one closest to London, rather than the nearest one as you get to the platform

whit?

[Mark Connolly]

3 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

whit?

At some stations (eg Glasgow Central), they will put two trains on the same platform, and call them the front train, and the rear train.

The front one is the one that is further away, or "closer to London", while the rear one is the one nearer to the concourse.

Quote

All three entrances to Glasgow Central - Gordon Street, Union Street and Hope Street - lead passengers into the main concourse. Platforms 1-15 can be accessed direct from the concourse. Platforms 16-17 are on a lower level, and accessible via stairs, escalators and lifts adjacent to platforms 14 and 15. An 'F' or 'R' beside your platform number denotes the 'front' or 'rear' train. The 'front' train is the one furthest from the concourse.

 

[Soapy FFC]

11 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

At some stations (eg Glasgow Central), they will put two trains on the same platform, and call them the front train, and the rear train.

The front one is the one that is further away, or "closer to London", while the rear one is the one nearer to the concourse.

 

I've always taken it that the front train is the one that is physically able to leave the platform first. No point being in the front train, but then needing to wait for the rear train to leave first.

[Fullerene]

4 hours ago, Newbornbairn said:

I've got a colleague who lives in Glasgow.  He constantly talks about driving "up" to Newcastle and "down" to Aberdeen.  I'm convinced he's doing it to drive me into an apoplexy-induced heart attack so he can get my job. 

My sympathies.  Glasgow is very slightly to the west of Inverness which is very slightly to the west of Plymouth but if anyone suggests they don't know this and says they are heading West to Plymouth - then what can I say?

Lock 'em up.  100 years of hard labour and daily lessons in Geography until they mend their ways.  Seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Hedgecutter]

15 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

My sympathies.  Glasgow is very slightly to the west of Inverness which is very slightly to the west of Plymouth but if anyone suggests they don't know this and says they are heading West to Plymouth - then what can I say?

Pedantry at its finest, but it grinds my gears when anybody in Aberdeen says that they're going "up" to Fort William. 

Latitudinally, Fort William is almost exactly in line with Brechin.

Eta: I thought this was the PTTGOYN thread.  Second sentence is a 'fun' fact I suppose.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hedgecutter

[Soapy FFC]

5 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Pedantry at its finest, but it grinds my gears when anybody in Aberdeen says that they're going "up" to Fort William. 

Latitudinally, Fort William is almost exactly in line with Brechin.

That, if anything, should be a case of going "over" to Fort William.

[Fullerene]

6 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

Pedantry at its finest, but it grinds my gears when anybody in Aberdeen says that they're going "up" to Fort William. 

Latitudinally, Fort William is almost exactly in line with Brechin.

Eta: I thought this was the PTTGOYN thread.

I did enjoy the episode of Pointless where a contestant mentioned that they had cycled from Land's End up to John O Groats and Richard suggested it might be easier going the other way.

[Thane of Cawdor]

4 minutes ago, Soapy FFC said:

That, if anything, should be a case of going "over" to Fort William.

"Through". As for "going up to London" from north of that city, this is the behaviour of an Evelyn Waugh character, or someone who has never met a preposition.

[Hedgecutter]

Suppose this would be a good time to drop the fact that most of mainland Scotland's north coast is part of Sutherland, which means "southern land" (from Suðrland).

[TxRover]

 

[GordonD]

10 hours ago, Fullerene said:

My sympathies.  Glasgow is very slightly to the west of Inverness which is very slightly to the west of Plymouth but if anyone suggests they don't know this and says they are heading West to Plymouth - then what can I say?

Must confess I was responsible for something like that once. I was working in Chesterfield and had to go to Bristol one day. When we arrived I was under the impression that this was the furthest west I'd ever been on the mainland. Then I looked at a map.

[scottsdad]

We haven't had a Star Trek Fun Fact in ages...

In a few scenes you see characters drinking whisky. Specifically "Wee Bairns" whisky. 

You get the clearest view in the episode of Deep Space 9 The Explorers, where O'Brien and Bashir get pished. 

Also in Strange New Worlds and Discovery.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

1 hour ago, GordonD said:

Must confess I was responsible for something like that once. I was working in Chesterfield and had to go to Bristol one day. When we arrived I was under the impression that this was the furthest west I'd ever been on the mainland. Then I looked at a map.

We tend to latch on to something obvious as our reference. I know that Princes Street and Sauchiehall Street are some way off from running East-West but I still end up thinking of their directions as the reference for navigation

on a larger scale we tend to take the East coast of England as the reference point probably because it’s a lot less crinkly than the rest of the island