Talking Dutch: The 9.43 to Strange Underdog
A competition to come up with inventive nicknames for train stations in Flanders really tapped into the creativity of young passengers
Derek Blyth on the name game
Bedenk een nieuwe naam voor jouw station – come up with a new name for your station, en maak kans op een gratis Go Unlimited – and you could win a free Go Unlimited pass.
Selecteer het dichtsbijzijnde station van jouw woonplaats – Choose the station closest to where you live, contestants were told. Bedenk nu een naam die duidelijker jouw woonplaats kernmerkt – Now think of a name that more clearly represents your home town.
The NMBS website helpfully came up with a few suggestions – Zand-Tussen-Uw-Broodje – Sand in Your Sandwich, or Joggen op den Dijk – Jogging on the Sea Wall.
You might wonder if this is a good idea, when travelling by train here can already be confusing – like when your train arrives at a Brussels station with two different names. How much worse it would be if the NMBS took up one of the suggestions submitted and changed Brussel Zuid to Frietken-Pis.
It’s interesting to see some of the proposals sent in by young Flemish train travellers. Sofie from Hasselt stood up for her city by suggesting that it deserved to be renamed Vriendelijker-dan-Antwerpen – Friendlier than Antwerp. Meanwhile, a disgruntled Arlene suggested Wevelgem change its name to Vertraging – Delay.
A special kind of logic
Not all the suggested changes made sense (at least to me). I couldn’t get my head round why Regina would want to change Leuven to Ostend. Unless she was thinking that it would bring her home town closer to the beach.
Someone else thought Oudeghem should be renamed Het-New-York-van-Europa – the New York of Europe. That’s Oudeghem, East Flanders, population 3,950. Famous for, well, not much – unless you count the Echomonument: the Echo Monument, gemaakt uit een harde tropische houtsoort – made from a hard type of tropical wood, en in de vorm van een menselijke figuur – and in the shape of a human figure, met central een klein TV-scherm – with a small TV screen in the middle.
No less surprising was Pieter’s suggestion to rename Mol Het-Ibiza-van-de-Kempen – the Ibiza of the Kempen. With all respect, Pieter, where are the whitewashed villages, the sandy beaches, the all-night parties?
Equally puzzling was Jolien’s idea of changing Kontich to Strange-Underdog, but her suggestion received seven likes, so I guess it must make sense to someone. Actually, Strange-Underdog wouldn’t be a bad name for Belgium, when you think about it.
But among the proposals that netted the largest number of votes was one that suggested changing Antwerp Central to Al-De-Rest-Is-Parking. At final count, Al-de-Rest had gathered 162 votes. So we might soon be hearing the conductor announce the departure of the 10.25 to Everywhere Else is Parking.
Photo: Antwerp Central Station, courtesy Jules Grandgagnage/Wikimedia Commons
