Stranger in a familiar land

11 Responses to Stranger in a familiar land

1. Jennifer Rohn says:

   2 September 2008 at 21:12

   Because ‘Clam Card’ sounded too cute.
2. Henry Gee says:

   2 September 2008 at 21:56

   Could have been ‘lobster card’, I suppose.
3. Matt Brown says:

   3 September 2008 at 05:52

   Wikipedia purports to have an answer:
   Oyster was chosen as a fresh approach that was not directly linked to transport, ticketing or London.
   Excellent policy. We almost called Nature Network “Reclusive banjo” to achieve a similar disconnect. It continues…
   Oyster was conceived and subsequently promoted because of the metaphorical implications of security and value in the component meanings of the hard bivalve shell and the concealed pearl. Its associations with London through Thames estuary oyster beds and the popular idiom ‘the world is your oyster’ were also significant factors in its selection as was the uniqueness of the word Oyster.
   So you see, it works on many levels. Clam and lobster cards can be ruled out because the press would refer to them as Robster Cards and Scam Cards every time they went wrong. Oyster doesn’t properly rhyme with anything, except perhaps moister.
4. Mike Fowler says:

   3 September 2008 at 06:46

   Actually, “Clam card” sounds like something you’d take on a visit to your Doctor.
   @ Matt – Cloister? Foist her? Surely the lablittites out there could use these suggestions and come up with a suitable limerick.
   When travelling by tube with an Oyster…
5. Frank Norman says:

   3 September 2008 at 08:31

   @Matt & Mike – I am very worried about “moister” appearing the limerick in a suggestive way… what have you started?
   Interestingly, I don’t tend to make the association between “oyster” and “pearl”. Although knowing they are related (or even identical) I don’t feel them to be the same. When I see oysters in the fishmonger I don’t think of pearls.
   World is your oyster seems a more plausible explanation.
6. Helen Jaques says:

   3 September 2008 at 09:11

   I’ve always though ‘swipe your oyster’ sounds like some sort of euphemism, and now I’ve realised the ‘moister’ rhyme too…
7. Jennifer Rohn says:

   3 September 2008 at 20:15

   When traveling by Tube on an Oyster
   The vicar decided to roister
   With a flask full of gin
   He gave in to sin
   And Boris impounded his cloister
8. Cath Ennis says:

   3 September 2008 at 20:42

   The tube usually makes me feel crabby
9. Brian Clegg says:

   4 September 2008 at 07:33

   There was an interesting item on lice on the radio yesterday morning.
10. Richard P. Grant says:

    4 September 2008 at 07:39

    Like, Brian, “My radio has lice; how do I get rid of them?”
11. Maxine Clarke says:

    4 September 2008 at 11:10

    I have to travel to work on SouthWest trains (I am getting boring on travel complaints, I realise, so I’ll try to make this the last one). In an interesting “reclusive banjo (TM)” approach, SWT is the only train network in London that cannot make its ticketing system compatible with these Oysters. Hence its passengers have to buy old-fashioned tickets. Not only is this irritating but the SWT marketing department actually makes a virtue of it, prominently running posters of simpering “fare dodgers” being hauled off to Azkabahn with the slogan “I didn’t realise that I couldn’t use my oystercard”.
    When Kingston’s theatre recently opened (with a superb inaugural production of Uncle Vanya), the massed forces of the 3rd estate theatre critics were rounded up to provide publicity and reviews. However, I have it on good authority (one of them) that when they turned up in Kingston SWT station they were all fined £10 for not paying the fare, as their Oystercards, naturally, did not work….

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