The Newcastle Vaudeville

[andrewducker]

This from a friend of mine (who actually had the conversation)

(FYI: the Tyne & Wear Metro is the Geordie tube)
Her: We're staying at the Holiday Inn at the MetroCentre. So we'll catch the Metro into town.
Me: No you can't.
Her: Why?
Me: The Metro doesn't stop at the MetroCentre.
Her: What?
Me: It doesn't go there.
Her: So how do I get into the city centre?
Me: You catch the train.
Her: So it does stop there.
Me: Huh?
Her: The Metro.
Me: No. Trains stop there.
Her: Where?
Me: The Metro!
Her: So I catch a train.
Me: Yes.
Her: Not A Metro.
Me: No.
Her: Is the Metro a train?
Me: Yes.
Her: So I catch the Metro.
Me: No!
Her: But Metros are trains!
Me: BUT NOT ALL TRAINS ARE METROS!

Comments

[red-phil.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm. Basic set theory fail.

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

This is where LJ needs a 'like' button for comments ;)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

And maybe a "make a joke about [set theory]" button :)

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

I had slightly similar issues in Hungary with Amerkans who didn't know about trams.

Amerkan: we're meeting at a restaurant across the train tracks.
Me: I think you mean the tram line.
Amerkan: Yeah, the train tracks.
Me: The tram lines.
(etc)

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

"Streetcar" being North American for "tram", they might know them as streetcar tracks or, less accurately, cable car tracks.

Or they might be entirely ignorant.

[simont]

To be entirely fair, having a thing called a Metro and a thing called a MetroCentre and having the one not stop at the other is asking for a little confusion.

[the-locster.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of Now Show sketch/conversation about Chinese leaders, Hu and Wen. Who?
Yeh, that's his name, etc :)

[call-waiting.livejournal.com]

I refer you to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

and also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyhEg1m-KR0

[ipslore.livejournal.com]

And then:

http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/214/Its-Very-Simple

[andrewducker]

Ha! I liked that!

[paddie-gal.livejournal.com]

Yup, I live just outside of Newcastle, and it's confusing that the Metro doesn't stop at the Metrocentre. There's plans to extend it to Washington, it goes to Sunderland, and all the way out to the coast at Tynemouth, but there are no plans to bring it to the Metrocentre. Very weird.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

The bus service is quicker, and more frequent.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

Yes I know this well. Does anyone want me to explain this? Cos I can.

[andrewducker]

I thought you might be amused by it.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

SO WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY EVERYTHING IS CALLED "METRO"

in the mid-70s Durham and Northumberland had a bit cut out, and made into the Metropolitan County of Tyne & Wear. This was such a shiny thing that even by the early 80s they were still naming everything at it, hence Metro FM (1976), the Metro (1980) and the Metro Centre (1986, but planned since the mid 1970s).

As the Metro was a council plan, while the Metro Centre was developed by Sir John Hall and the Church of England, there was never any intention to get the Metro to the Metro Centre and there never will be

And that's why I'm still single, because I'm tragically geeky about stuff no-one cares about.