4 ms·

I am familiar with Camden and Mornington Crescent area, but "Shades of Mornington Crescent"?

smcl 7y ago
And "Shades of ${thing}" is shorthand for something like "This reminds one of ${thing}" or "There are similarities to ${thing}" So GP's last sentence can be interpreted as: "There are similarities to the radio game Mornington Crescent". I often forget how British phrases, cultural references and idioms can be completely inscrutable.
- jacobush 7y ago
  How can "shades of" be inscrutable in any language? Genuinely curious. I think I picked it up immediately from context.
  - smcl 7y ago
    The combination of the unusual game sharing the name with a tube stop and the unusual expression could leave anyone unfamiliar with either completely lost, as demonstrated by the OP. The way the expression is used it's often just in a sentence of its own, with the aforementioned ${thing} usually being some specific cultural reference. For example if a Czech person was watching English football and heard the phrase "Shades of 1966" I have no doubt they could parse and understand every word in the sentence ... but it's quite possible they'd have no idea what was meant because "1966" has special cultural significance for most English people, and the "shades of ..." doesn't really hint at anything on its own. My girlfriend speaks English as a second language, and speaks it beautifully, but can struggle if I use idioms or phrases which are far more commonplace than this, partly because of how many we have in English and partly because they can be unusual.
laurieg 7y ago
Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. Here it's being used as a short-hand for a complex situation/set of rules. The usage is probably drawn from the fact there was a comedy radio programme in the UK that played a ridiculous game involving many sets of convoluted rules upon rules and the name of the game was Mornington Crescent.
- tboughen 7y ago
  Specifically, the rules of Mornington Crescent are made up as you go along.
  - zapzupnz 7y ago
    Except when they might put you in nip by crossing their laterals. Then it's very serious business.
- twic 7y ago
  > Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. I'm not sure if this is a valiant attempt to confuse Americans, but this isn't true. Trains stop in both directions. A reason it might not seem like that is that there are two branches of the Northern line running in parallel between Euston and Camden Town, and Mornington Crescent is only on one of them. So depending on which way you turn when you reach the southbound platform at Camden, you may or may not pass through Mornington Crescent on your way into town.
  - ummwhat 7y ago
    You just demonstrated why "Mornington Crescent" is good shorthand for "a preponderance of edge cases and tribal knowledge"
  - Symbiote 7y ago
    Mornington Crescent used to have trains only stopping in one direction (prior to 1966, according to Wikipedia). Then for a long time, it was one of the less-used stations for somewhere relatively central, and wasn't open at weekends. Nowadays, the next station (Camden Town) and that area's various alternative/subculture markets make the area very busy all the time, so all trains stop at Mornington Crescent at all times.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Was? "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" is still going, running since the seventies I think. There was a series this year. Sadly no longer with Humph.
ehnto 7y ago
He might be referring to the old radio game, Mornington Crescent that aired on BBC Radio 4. Where all the rules are made up, but tensely debated none the less. One of my first website's was an attempt at an online game of Mornington Crescent. > The game consists of each panellist in turn announcing a landmark or street, most often a tube station on the London Underground system. The aim is to be the first to announce "Mornington Crescent", a station on the Northern line. Interspersed with the turns is humorous discussion amongst the panellists and host regarding the rules and legality of each move, as well as the strategy the panellists are using.
- louisswiss 7y ago
  I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (the panelshow in question) is still going today! Although the original host sadly passed away a few years ago, and many of the original cast are well into their 80s...
hcs 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)
msla 7y ago
As others correctly pointed out, I'm referring to the parodic panel game "Mornington Crescent" from I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue; the "game" is ostensibly about making moves from tube stop to tube stop while obeying an immensely complicated set of rules which are written down in full in a gigantic book... which doesn't exist in the real world. The Wikipedia article is fairly anodyne, but the talk page was surprisingly acrimonious on the topic of whether this joke is a game, or whether this game is a joke; ultimately, the side insisting it is so a real game seemed like they were attempting to prevent Wikipedia from "spoiling" it by stating outright that there are no actual rules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mornington_Crescent_(game)/Archive_1#This_Article_Breaks_Wikipedia_Rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mornington_Crescent_(game... ... which reminds me of the surprising persistence with which some people tried to get Wikipedia to state that drop bears are real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Drop_bear/Archive_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Drop_bear/Archive_1

smcl 7y ago

And "Shades of ${thing}" is shorthand for something like "This reminds one of ${thing}" or "There are similarities to ${thing}" So GP's last sentence can be interpreted as: "There are similarities to the radio game Mornington Crescent". I often forget how British phrases, cultural references and idioms can be completely inscrutable.

jacobush 7y ago
How can "shades of" be inscrutable in any language? Genuinely curious. I think I picked it up immediately from context.
- smcl 7y ago
  The combination of the unusual game sharing the name with a tube stop and the unusual expression could leave anyone unfamiliar with either completely lost, as demonstrated by the OP. The way the expression is used it's often just in a sentence of its own, with the aforementioned ${thing} usually being some specific cultural reference. For example if a Czech person was watching English football and heard the phrase "Shades of 1966" I have no doubt they could parse and understand every word in the sentence ... but it's quite possible they'd have no idea what was meant because "1966" has special cultural significance for most English people, and the "shades of ..." doesn't really hint at anything on its own. My girlfriend speaks English as a second language, and speaks it beautifully, but can struggle if I use idioms or phrases which are far more commonplace than this, partly because of how many we have in English and partly because they can be unusual.

laurieg 7y ago

Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. Here it's being used as a short-hand for a complex situation/set of rules. The usage is probably drawn from the fact there was a comedy radio programme in the UK that played a ridiculous game involving many sets of convoluted rules upon rules and the name of the game was Mornington Crescent.

tboughen 7y ago
Specifically, the rules of Mornington Crescent are made up as you go along.
- zapzupnz 7y ago
  Except when they might put you in nip by crossing their laterals. Then it's very serious business.
twic 7y ago
> Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. I'm not sure if this is a valiant attempt to confuse Americans, but this isn't true. Trains stop in both directions. A reason it might not seem like that is that there are two branches of the Northern line running in parallel between Euston and Camden Town, and Mornington Crescent is only on one of them. So depending on which way you turn when you reach the southbound platform at Camden, you may or may not pass through Mornington Crescent on your way into town.
- ummwhat 7y ago
  You just demonstrated why "Mornington Crescent" is good shorthand for "a preponderance of edge cases and tribal knowledge"
- Symbiote 7y ago
  Mornington Crescent used to have trains only stopping in one direction (prior to 1966, according to Wikipedia). Then for a long time, it was one of the less-used stations for somewhere relatively central, and wasn't open at weekends. Nowadays, the next station (Camden Town) and that area's various alternative/subculture markets make the area very busy all the time, so all trains stop at Mornington Crescent at all times.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Was? "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" is still going, running since the seventies I think. There was a series this year. Sadly no longer with Humph.

ehnto 7y ago

He might be referring to the old radio game, Mornington Crescent that aired on BBC Radio 4. Where all the rules are made up, but tensely debated none the less. One of my first website's was an attempt at an online game of Mornington Crescent. > The game consists of each panellist in turn announcing a landmark or street, most often a tube station on the London Underground system. The aim is to be the first to announce "Mornington Crescent", a station on the Northern line. Interspersed with the turns is humorous discussion amongst the panellists and host regarding the rules and legality of each move, as well as the strategy the panellists are using.

louisswiss 7y ago
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (the panelshow in question) is still going today! Although the original host sadly passed away a few years ago, and many of the original cast are well into their 80s...

hcs 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)

msla 7y ago

As others correctly pointed out, I'm referring to the parodic panel game "Mornington Crescent" from I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue; the "game" is ostensibly about making moves from tube stop to tube stop while obeying an immensely complicated set of rules which are written down in full in a gigantic book... which doesn't exist in the real world. The Wikipedia article is fairly anodyne, but the talk page was surprisingly acrimonious on the topic of whether this joke is a game, or whether this game is a joke; ultimately, the side insisting it is so a real game seemed like they were attempting to prevent Wikipedia from "spoiling" it by stating outright that there are no actual rules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mornington_Crescent_(game)/Archive_1#This_Article_Breaks_Wikipedia_Rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mornington_Crescent_(game... ... which reminds me of the surprising persistence with which some people tried to get Wikipedia to state that drop bears are real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Drop_bear/Archive_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Drop_bear/Archive_1