I saw a newspaper headline today:
MINISTER: MAKE TRAIN STATIONS SAFER.

It took me a moment to realise why it looked "wrong" to me. Normally, we'd usually just refer to a "station". If we meant some type of station other than a train or railway station we'd say "bus station", "Underground station", "metro station", and so on; otherwise we'd infer "train".

Is this the same in the US?

It seems to me, at least living on the Left Coast of the US, that station needs to be qualified for train, gas, or bus. The stations I've spent the most time in are BART stations (like the Metro in other cities), but I would always qualify them.

I certainly agree with arnie's British usage. If someone said to me "I'll meet you at the station." I'd assume he meant the railway station. For any other kind of station (and bear in mind that we never use the phrase "gas station") he'd have to be explicit unless it could be inferred from the previous context of the conversation.

And I agree with zmj. In Chicago we'd say train station or "L" station or bus station or gas station or subway station. Just plain "station" would be confusing.

There's also those stations of the cross in churches.

Of course, if you've ever watched "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" they encounter aliens who's language consists only of the word 'stations'! I'm reminded here of Robert Sheckley's marvellous stories of first contact with aliens and the subsequent difficulties of establishing communication- so different from Star Trek where everyone conveniently speaks English- handy that.

Of course, the railways invented or popularised so many things - stations, timetables, trains, universal time, tickets - that it is often unnecessary to use the word "railway".

Indeed, the minister here referred to a "train station" when he actually meant a railway station since, when they speak of trains, most people mean railway trains. Indeed, some people even use the term "train" when they actually mean the locomotive - even if the locomotive is running light and quite innocent of a train.

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the minister here referred to a "train station"

I didn't read the full story, but I suspect it was the sub-editor (copy-editor in the US) who used the word "train". "Railway" would probably make the headline too long. Ironically, leaving out either word would make the headline more idiomatic (UK) English, as I said.

The word 'station' is used in transportation (bus station, train station) but also in communications (radio station; TV station). What's the etymological connection between the two senses?

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Originally posted by shufitz:
The word 'station' is used in transportation (bus station, train station) but also in communications (radio station; TV station). What's the etymological connection between the two senses?

Speaking off the toppa my head -- i.e. not bothering to look it up in my etymological dictionary -- isn't it that 'station' means place, location? The place where the bus stops; the place where the radio transmmitter is located. Then thhere's "station in life", your place in the social pecking order.

Davvid (who is being forced to used a keyboard withh bad de-bounce until my new one comes in)

Station is from the Latin statio (stationis) from statum 'stood', past participle of sto 'to stand'. In the STates, we say taxi stand. The Latin words means 'standing' and 'a place where things stay/stand'. In military language it also has a meaning of 'a post; a position'. We still talk about a person's station in life sometimes. So, it's not just buses and trains standing about.

Related, I presume, to stanchion: an upright bar, post, or frame forming a support or barrier. I'll leave to others the joy of following up.

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Originally posted by BobHale:
(and bear in mind that we never use the phrase "gas station")

What do you call it, if not a "station"?

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Originally posted by zmjezhd:
past participle of sto 'to stand'.

So a stoic is someboby who just stands around and doesn't do anything? Well, at night he could look up at the stare, stare night, I suppose. Or maybe he's not stoic, but stoned!

"One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line
Sittin' downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line
Waitin' for the train that goes home, sweet Mary
Hoping that the train is on time
Sittin' downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line."

What about the Oz use of station? We'd call it a farm or ranch.

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Originally posted by shufitz:

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
(and bear in mind that we never use the phrase "gas station")

What do you call it, if not a "station"?

Although I concede that it's confusing we, at least around here, usually call it a garage.

Or, if we specifically want to emphasise that it's the type of garage where cars fill up, we'd call it a "petrol" station.

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The word 'station' is used in transportation (bus station, train station) but also in communications (radio station; TV station).

Though, Zmj made a good point about the "stations" of the cross. I just looked it up on OED, and it had 29 different definitions. The "stations of the cross" use was discussed under "Ecclesiastical uses" of the word. I was surprised at this definition: "The stationary point, crisis, a height (of a disease)," though the quote was from 1661.