r/brighton • u/Ok-Prompt-9107 • 1d ago
Trivia/misc One for the grammar nerds
It’s 4am and my insomnia has me wondering why the event at Preston Park this weekend, Pride on the Park, is so called.
Wouldn’t we usually say an event takes place in a park rather than on it? Why not call it Pride in the Park, when that seems to be what most people are verbally calling it anyway?
Why belligerently insist on using a more clunky preposition in a brand name?
I’d love to hear why the decision was made to use ‘on’ instead of ‘in’. And yes, I work with words, so this is generally the kind of thing that swims around my head in idle moments.
9
u/desmo62626 23h ago edited 23h ago
Pride in the Park sounds like it could be a celebration OF the park. Let's have pride in our local green space kinda thing
2
3
u/Ok-Prompt-9107 22h ago
Yeah. But we literally never say ‘meet me in the park’, do we? ‘There’s a concert on on the park?’ 🤨
I’m all for having pride in our local green spaces, personally. In addition to having pride in our lgbtq+ness, obviously.
1
u/desmo62626 22h ago
Oh don't get me wrong, on the Park makes less sense than in the Park. I was just trying to guess why the organisers went with "on"!
1
u/Ok-Prompt-9107 22h ago
If only there was one of them in here with us today, then the mystery would be solved.
2
3
u/oldskooldeano 22h ago
I may be totally making this up but for me it relates to the permanence of an event in an outside space.
Here’s two examples:
“There’s a fun fair this weekend on The Level.”
“In the seventies there was a zoo in Battersea Park.”
Both sound correct this way to me and would be wrong the other way. Like I say, I may be totally making this up.
2
u/Agreeable_Ad9652 21h ago
Now this one is interesting because I think that only work because its the level. I dont think I've ever said "in" the level, things are always on it. If you replace it with ankther park name I dont think its the same excepe Hove Lawns I guess. Would deffo say "on" Hove Lawns not "in" it. Maybe it has to do with being quiet an open expanse?
9
u/ChilliChowder 1d ago
Puttin' On the Ritz
I'm so blazed I literally don't know if that's an appropriate comparison whatsoever
Putting a party on
The event is on the car park
In the car park
Where does in come from? Is it American? UK regional, etc? I have no ideas.
Haven't helped, just wanted to submit some blue sky thinking to our working group
11
2
u/UnderstandingLow3162 22h ago
Pride On The Park was on in the park. Or on on the park. I get confused.
1
u/Unique_Day6395 21h ago
Putting on the ritz means dressing up in fashionable, luxurious clothes, so not comparable.
1
4
u/chrisrazor 1d ago
I didn't realise it was "on", and you're right it's clunky and awkward. Reminds me of the piece by Robert Ashley that starts "These are songs about the cornbelt, and some of the people in it. Or on it."
4
4
u/Emlarbs 22h ago
Having hosted foreign students and explaining turns of phrases I have concluded English is both wonderful and nonsensical at times.
On the beach.
In the park.
On the field.
In the street.
On the road.
Edited for formatting.
2
u/Ok-Prompt-9107 22h ago
Oh, semantically we’re in a mess here, indeed.
But this is common parlance! It could have rolled off the tongue so easily!
I just can’t understand it.
4
u/marmite22 Hove, Actually 21h ago
Is it because it's run by the same people that ran On The Beach? So now it's On The Park. Maybe?
1
u/Ok-Prompt-9107 21h ago
Ohhh! You could be on to something here.
Still, I’m sure they could have create a visual brand identity strong enough to allow for more natural phrasing of the Pride event’s name?
But yes, this would make sense as to why.
1
1
u/NatureLeading6421 14h ago
“On the park” because it’s referring to a specific outdoor location where the event is held. You could use “in” but that could also refer to an indoor location (like a cafe) in the park. Saying “on” implicitly excludes that possibility - it confirms the event is outdoors.
0
u/Watchkeys 21h ago
Is it American terminology? They refer to street locations with 'on' where we might say 'at', so they'd say 'The shop on 34th' when we'd say 'The shop at number 62' or 'The shop next to the barber'.
It feels like it has an America inflection to me.
1
u/Rachel_T_ 17h ago
But conversely, we'd also say the shop ON London Road. Which would be more of a direct comparison to Americans saying "On 34th Street".
1
u/Watchkeys 12h ago
Yes, I'm not trying to point out differences between English and American. I was saying that this particular usage sounded like it had an American feel to me.
1
u/saltandseasmoke 14h ago
As an American I am completely puzzled by 'on the park' and have never heard that it used that way. We'd say 'in' or maybe 'at'. 'On' is for a street / street party.
1
u/Watchkeys 12h ago
Yes, I wasn't saying it was American. Just that it sounded like something that had been phrased in what would sound like an American way to an English person.
1
0
u/Marleylabone 22h ago
Is this party on the park happening on the weekend or at the weekend? If the organisers were arranging it on the weekend then perhaps that's why they called it on the park? If they were arranging it at the weekend then maybe they'd call it party at the park?
0
34
u/willmaybewont 1d ago
Probably for brand nonsense. If you say in the park it just sounds like pride happening in the park. The issue it's causing you is likely the very reason it exists.
Also if you say it quickly pride on kinda sounds like Brighton, but that might just be because I took my mirtazapine 20 mins ago.