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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Lord Harris of Haringey explains why he resisted going the Harringay way

On a blog he posted to day, Toby Harris (Lord Harris of Haringey) explains why he resisted advice from the Garter Principal King of Arms to spell his title as Harringay rather than Haringey:

“Well, you do realise don’t you that in the local area Harringay spelt like that is either associated in people’s minds with a Sainsbury’s Superstore or with the old greyhound racing stadium. I mean do you think it’s really fitting for a Life Peer to be called after a greyhound stadium?”

Read the blog here. I've asked him to comment on why he feels it would have been such a stain of disgrace to have our name in his title. Was he serious about the stadium?

Tags for Forum Posts: harringay name

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God forbid that a member of the Labour Party should be associated with such a working class thing as Greyhound Racing.
He could have really pleased Garter by opting for 'Harris of Haering's Hege'.
For a New Labour Peer from an inner city borough the urbandictionary.com must be a source to respect:

toby - word to describe a mug.

Harris Tweed - Small or ineffectual man (weed) - "He's a bit of an 'Arris"

Or possibly, more offensively:

harris - "Arse"

It's actually Rhyming Slang for Rhyming Slang.
The correct rhyming slang for "Arse" is "Bottle & Glass"
but once people knew this the term couldn't really be used anymore without offending people. That prompted people to use the slang for "Bottle", which is "Aris-totle" as a slang for the first insult. "Aristotle" became "Aris" which in a London accent sounds the same as "Harris"

It's clear why there might be an over sensitivity to names.
Thank you. I have wondered about the etymology of 'harris'.
Has the Lord title gone to his head? Seems pompous to me to imply that "Harringay" is not good enough for him ...

My only recollection of this former Haringey Council Leader, is that I wrote to him in the late 1990's, complaining of the sharply reduced opening hours of Stroud Green library (now the opening hours are almost better than ever). I think it was down to just three opening days a week and closed at lunchtime. What a service.

I remember being so digusted with his reply that I threw his letter away: something I will not do again.

The gist of his reply was that the cuts in opening hours were okay because it had been agreed with the unions.


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