Ever wondered what all these names in Zurich mean? Some are obvious - Langstrasse was probably one Long Street and on Paradeplatz there used to be probably parades in the past.
I’ve lived in San Francisco for a few years and the longer I lived there, the more I started to miss the Zurich public transport. Although the Zurich system is superior for many other reasons too, I started to get annoyed by the simplistic names in the US! Most street are named after some historic figures (like Powell or Montgomery) or some cities (like Francisco St). And not to mention the boring 1st Street, 2nd Street etc. And they would just name stop after the crossroads, for example ‘1st & Powell’ or ‘2nd & Montgomery’
I got more appreciation for the mysterious names in Zurich: I mean, we all know that Langstrasse is a Long Street and on Paradeplatz there used to be parades, but what on earth is Kanonengasse? I haven’t seen any cannons there. Nor lions on Löwenplatz.
Now, I am a hobby linguist and love languages - so what if we would make an absurd English translation of the Zurich Public Transport map?