Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
This isn't f****ing Green Lanes!
I've been making the case for what our Neighbourhood's called for five years now. My logic is simple. I think it matters that we have a shared identity that we're proud of.
It's not been plain sailing. The Council have been trying to change our 130 year old name to Green Lanes for some time now. I was told by a Council Cabinet member, Nilgun Canver, that Harringay doesn't exist. Then there was the whole bridge banner thing.
So far this year's been a good year. The south side of the new bridge banner is going to say Harringay. Bish-bosh. Simple. (Update: Errr...not so quick Hugh. Cabinet member, Councillor Nilgun Canver got in there at the last minute and took it on herself to change this!)
Then a few weeks back I came across a resident in another area who was fed up with his neighbourhood being rechristened by estate agents. So, to find out what the man in the street thought, he walked 4.5km down his high street, stopping every 200M to ask 10 people at each stop "Excuse me, what area is this?". He published the results on a website called thisisntfuckingdalston.co.uk.
Great idea for Harringay, I thought. Let's find out what the 'man in the street' really thinks. So I copied the original idea and walked down Green Lanes from Manor House to Turnpike Lanes, stopping every 200 metres to ask 10 randomly selected strangers, "Excuse me, what area is this please". I wasn't expecting to have my day made, but I was very pleasantly very surprised.
So, Council, are you listening? This isn't me. This isn't a self-selecting group of digitally connected HoL users. This is 120 randomly selected 'men in the street' and their verdict is that this isn't Green Lanes.
I was scrupulously fair, not discriminating about who I asked. The only results I didn't record were those when the language barrier made it impossible to complete the Q&A.
In the chart below, the scale on the left shows the number of people who responded to each choice.
Click the picture to enlarge.
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay name
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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You're spot on about the influence of station names. If I had the time I'd engage with TfL and Railtrack/FCC to get our station names changed. I wonder what the best combination would be?
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Permalink Reply by Joe Bailey on
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Haha, out of interest, how long did the survey take? Seems like this whole thread might be verging on "if I had the time"...
;)
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It didn't take long at all. The walk home + about 30 mins on two occasions. So, about an hour with about 30 mins or so processing the results.
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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
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It is good to see that TfL guide to local buses is called "Buses from Harringay", see:http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/maps/buses/pdf/harringay-10.... Perhaps we should get them to change the name of the St Ann's Road Green Lanes bus stop to "Harringay".
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Permalink Reply by William Booth on
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That's pretty much the middle of the area isn't it. Could be a good call.
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If there were a tube station under the Salisbury my route home would become both shorter and longer all at once...
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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'This is 120 randomly selected 'men in the street' and their verdict is that this isn't Green Lanes.'......er, I presume you asked some women? I think this is a great exercise to do but please can we have non-sexist language. It does matter, you know that! People in the street isnt so hard to say/write
In terms of refining this to include languages, it wouldnt be so hard to get translations on paper of 'where do you think you are now, Harringay, Green Lanes, Tottenham... ' I could probably cobble together Bulgarian and between us lots of other languages. We could descend on the cafes and restaurants and ask folk... I think there would be an ethnic dimension to it, I am sure the more recent comers wouldnt know that Harringay is distinct from Haringey but that is just a supposition...
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'men in the street', Ruth, not men in the street. Note the inverted commas. 'Man in the street' is a recognised phrase. It's certainly not intended to be sexist in any way.
As far as language goes, I'm happy with having a filter of needing to speak at least very basic English. There weren't that many where communication was impossible.
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hi Hugh, I know you are not sexist and yes it is an accepted phrase, still, but it has been challenged along with many other phrases that turn people of both sexes into one- men. The British Sociological Association along with many other professional bodies would have such phrases on a their list of ones to avoid as we should be using non-gender specific ones... Sorry to sound pedantic but language does make a difference and it's not just being boringly PC....
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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In future, Hugh, call them " streetwalkers ". That sounds quite gender neutral.
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