Local pedant tuts over spelling mistake by Area Assembly member

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 17, 2008 at 10:57

Keatons estate agents have sent us a glossy brochure stating that they are present in:
Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Islington and.... Harringay.

Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 17, 2008 at 13:21

And?

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 17, 2008 at 13:36

You know very well they meant to say Haringey. They even said that their Harringay office was in Green Lanes, Harringay.

Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on March 17, 2008 at 13:44

There are countless mistakes regarding the correct spelling from numerous businesses.

Iceland still says "Iceland, Haringey", even though it is in Haringey, they should be using Harringay. I've got sick of telling people about the incorrect usage.

Surely it's not that difficult?

Permalink Reply by Anette on March 18, 2008 at 15:39

I think it is really difficult. Does that make me 'fick? I just cannot get it straight, it's impossible for my brain to compute.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 18, 2008 at 15:59

You are :)

It's easy:
Harringay: the hard spelling with potentially homosexual connotations (think the 60s) is the original name of the area we live in.
Haringey: no double 'r' and no possibility of coming from gaytown if you live in the large borough created in the great London rejig of the 60s where they decided to use the name of one of it's wards (Harringay) but modified the spelling to fit in with the increasingly 'fick and yet decreasingly homophobic population.

That works for me anyway and I'm a bit 'fick too.

Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 18, 2008 at 16:34

John, I really hope that you're not being serious about the origins of the name Haringey! (If you are, wead my bloody Histowee overview Wikipedia article! If you're not, then "Boo-Hiss" for adding to the confusion.)

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 18, 2008 at 17:28

"We are not aware of the reasons for that choice". Well now people will be able to remember it easier because I have given the probably reasons. I mean, they left Camden as Camden and not Camdin.

Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 18, 2008 at 17:41

I'm not in the least convinced that the reasons you cite are the probable reasons. You're guessing and there's no basis for your proposition. The fact that the introduction of the new name was accompanied by a campaign in the schools to use the historically correct form of pronunciation ( - ey pronounced - ee, as in Finchley) suggests to me that there was some historical purism at work here and that they selected Haringey because it is the oldest recorded form of the name.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 18, 2008 at 17:55

My mistake. I thought I had seen that there was some form of 60s puritanism involved. I guess the right thing to do now is delete my posts just in case. But I think that my way of remembering the difference (people were getting 'ficker and were worried about "gay"s taking over the country) is easier. I even have to remember left vs. right by shaking the hand I think is the correct one as if I am signing my name - there really is no other distinction.

Permalink Reply by Liz on March 18, 2008 at 17:52

You think they changed it because it has the word 'gay' in it? And how will your explanation that our grandparents homophobia is to blame help us to remember it, exactly? Although by the 60's there was awareness of the word to denote homosexuality (this usage dates probably from the 20s,) I very much doubt that this was the reason.
Also in the 60s was a very grassroots movement to take things back to their earliest possible forms (as in the Early Music Movement for example) and this search for authenticity was the more likely explanation (as well as the element of local rivalry suggested by Hugh's article, some things never change!;)

Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on March 18, 2008 at 16:33

Literacy and accuracy were never the stock in trade of the estate agent, the grocer, the canvassing local politician. So why this sudden outbreak of pedantiphilia?
Great that the Saxons were more laid back about their spelling. Since old Haeringes Hege (note, no apostrophe!) eventually managed to enclose and include all of Harringay-Hornsey-Haringey, let's relax in our etymology and history rather than worry over geographical distinctions. Too much petty clarification could get on Waltheofs Wick. More recent blow-ins (Keatons, Winkworths and their ilk) are best left in their ignorance. They'll soon leave anyway, now that Haeringes bubble is burst.

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