Train station

[Michael Quinion]

A British subscriber to World Wide Words has asked about the
increasingly common British usage of 'train station', replacing
the older standard British 'railway station', wondering why, if
it is as a result of American influence, the change didn't
happen earlier than it did.

This usage started to appear in British English in the middle
eighties or therabouts. It is now the usual form for anybody
under about 35, clearly a generational shift. The American
origin and influence are obvious enough.

But would I be right to assert that Americans have only
comparatively recently started to talk about 'train station'
themselves? The Oxford English Dictionary has a citation from
The New York Times in 1981 that suggests this is so: "When was
the last time you heard a young, rich-affluent-wealthy type use
the phrase railroad station? Upper-class use is now train
station". If the usage shift in the US is that recent, it
explains why 'train station' only began to appear in Britain
when it did.

Could somebody give me details of the shift in American usage
that I can pass back to my subscriber?


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
<editor at worldwidewords.org>
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/>