Saint John and St. John's... Confusing?

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

• Video Link

I hate to cite the comedy of James Mullinger, but…

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Looks like even the most notable statistician in Canada has some mild confusion regarding on how to spell Saint John vs St. John

[MolsonExport]

What's the 'Air Canada' party?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What's the 'Air Canada' party?

I think it's the People's Alliance. It's a right-wing anglo rights anti-bilingualism party.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think it's the People's Alliance. It's a right-wing anglo rights anti-bilingualism party.

ewww. I hate those sorts of parties.

Parties for crybabies.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

ewww. I hate those sorts of parties.

Parties for crybabies.

You mean like the PQ???

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You mean like the PQ???

Pretty sure his answer to that will be yes!

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Pretty sure his answer to that will be yes!

Please do not presume to speak for me.

I disagree, because the PQ is not a single issue party, and has not been for many decades.

There is no way to compare a mainstream Quebec nationalist party to some fringe New Brunswick anti-bilingualism party.

[bridgeoftea]

From someone that moved to Saint John from far away.
I have family and friends that will ask how the weather is in Saint John's or "when you get back to Saint John's .. etc".

Definitely weird to me, but as others pointed out this is a group that's more familiar with geography and maps. If Champlain didn't "discover" the area on Saint John day, maybe it would have been called Champlain or Sam's Town or maybe Portland?

I also find it interesting that old newspapers in Saint John used to have it as St John.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

I also find it interesting that old newspapers in Saint John used to have it as St John.

As it's very much the standard in the anglosphere to abbreviate "Saint" as "St." in toponyms, I am guessing the move to officialize "Saint John" written out that way was clearly to distinguish it from the capital of Newfoundland.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Please do not presume to speak for me.

I disagree, because the PQ is not a single issue party, and has not been for many decades.

There is no way to compare a mainstream Quebec nationalist party to some fringe New Brunswick anti-bilingualism party.

Thanks for clarifying!

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As it's very much the standard in the anglosphere to abbreviate "Saint" as "St." in toponyms, I am guessing the move to officialize "Saint John" written out that way was clearly to distinguish it from the capital of Newfoundland.

Yes, imagine going through all the trouble to change the spelling of the name, only to barely change it at all, and still have have a name barely distinguishable from St. John’s

They should have changed it to something far more distinct from another major city in the same general region.

If the city ever amalgamates, I hope they go with a name other than Saint John for the name of the regional municipality.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

From someone that moved to Saint John from far away.
I have family and friends that will ask how the weather is in Saint John's or "when you get back to Saint John's .. etc".

Definitely weird to me, but as others pointed out this is a group that's more familiar with geography and maps. If Champlain didn't "discover" the area on Saint John day, maybe it would have been called Champlain or Sam's Town or maybe Portland?

I also find it interesting that old newspapers in Saint John used to have it as St John.

I think New Cork was a missed opportunity. King George III put the kibosh on the colony being named New Ireland, and wanted it named New Brunswick, after Braunschweig, Hanover, Germany, where his lot is from.

I don’t think too manny people would be confusing New Cork with New York.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Yes, imagine going through all the trouble to change the spelling of the name, only to barely change it at all, and still have have a name barely distinguishable from St. John’s

They should have changed it to something far more distinct from another major city in the same general region.

If the city ever amalgamates, I hope they go with a name other than Saint John for the name of the regional municipality.

I'd be surprised if they changed the name, even under an amalgamation scenario. There is a lot of attachment to the name I am sure.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Yikes, in my personal experience, the only mainland Canadian confusion I routinely encounter is tourists renting a car and expecting to go on a day trip to Gros Morne.

"I've got reservations for 6 p.m. for a lovely dinner in Rocky Harbour in a few hours! That's RIGHT in the park!"
"You won't hit Clarenville by 6 p.m., my love. You are a day away from Gros Morne."

I imagine they get that on the West Coast too - Canadians driving off the ferry in Port aux Basques expecting to get to their hotels in St. John's in a couple hours at most.

But Saint John/St. John's? Doesn't come up, as Saint John (unfortunately) doesn't come up.

This reminds of a Fogust (August) about 10-12 years. I was sitting on the airside of YYT, everyone waiting to see if there was going to be a break in the fog or if the flight would be cancelled. The fog was so thick you could barely see a few feet in front of you, so barely nothing had been getting in or out for nearly a week.

Guy with his daughter, most likely a mainlander based on accent. He's freaking out over missing his flight and has been pestering the gate agent since I sat down. He insists there must be another airport he can fly out of, the agent finally had enough and rebooked him on a flight leaving from Deer Lake. Guy collects his daughter and leaves looking all proud, probably thinking how dumb the rest of us were for waiting.

Deer Lake is a 6 hr drive from St. John's.... our flight was delayed but got out a couple hours later.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

I don’t think too many people would be confusing New Cork with New York.

You'd be surprised.......

Maybe it's nickname would be Cotham rather than Gotham.

[MolsonExport]

Nobody would get confused if they called it "Old Cork"

[zoomer]

Continuing the off topic discussion for a moment (post) - it’s strange how the NDP is non-existent in New Brunswick. What’s the historical background on this?

Provincial politics has been chaotic the past few decades though, what with Conservative (and two instances of small c conservative in BC) governments in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan imploding through incompetence, yet rebranding and successfully repositioning themselves even further to the right.

Also I now have Jay Z and Alicia Key’s New CORK song stuck in my mind.. someone needs to redo that video set to the streets of Saint John or New Cork as it’ll now be known.

New Cork (Ayy, uh, yeah; aha)
Concrete jungle (Yeah) where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do (Yeah, okay)
Now you're in New Cork (Aha, aha, aha; uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand-new (New)
Big lights will inspire you (Come on, okay)
Let's hear it for New Cork

Another thought - in light of what appears to be a swing to the right and/or away from ruling parties where else in Canada would you see a result like this in Victoria on the weekend - 81% voting NDP or Green?

[ScreamingViking]

Corkish, NB.

[Acajack]

Historic Indigenous name for Saint John townsite (downtown): Menahkwesk

Historic Indigenous name for the the Saint John River, which flows through western New Brunswick from the north to the south: Wolastoq