Town Staines changes its name to “Staines-upon-Thames”
May 21st, 2012 - 8:34 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattLondon, May 21 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In an effort to disassociate the town from negative associations, ‘Staines’ will officially change its name to ‘Staines-upon-Thames’. The association of the town with Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Ali G since the 90’s has associated the city with a number of negative perceptions.
In the past, well-known former residents, such as Richard Archer of the rock band Hard-Fi, have used mockery to describe the town. Archer called Staines a “ghost town”. Counsellors and representatives of the town have highlighted that Staines’ negative associations have prevented the town from receiving investment from large business enterprises and have generated a significant decrease in property prices.
This controversial move has generated criticism from numerous commentators, who claim that the decision is aimless and have criticized the pomposity of the town’s new name. Anne Damerell, secretary of the Staines Town Society, claimed that the move is pointless as the prefix ‘upon-Thames’ is only used to distinguish some towns from others, and there is no other town with the name Staines.
Town society and Staines football club will remain with their current official names. Dressed as Ali G, several of the town’s inhabitants expressed their protest at celebrations to mark the change of the town’s name.
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Tags: ali g, business enterprises, celebrations, commentators, controversial move, counsellors, football club, ghost town, hard fi, inhabitants, mockery, negative associations, negative perceptions, pomposity, prefix, richard archer, rock band, sacha baron cohen, staines, thames