1567: scotland yard Mar 30, 2019

The name for the London police force headquarters as 'Scottland Yard' is so culturally significant that even when the building was moved, it was called 'New Scotland Yard'. Indeed, it was only the location of the former headquarters that the name came to be in the first place, as even though the address was officially 4 Whitehall Place, the public entrance was on on a street called 'Great Scotland Yard', and many people applied the name thereafter. This is a similar process as happened with Wall Street in New York City connoting the whole financial district.
Support Word Facts for even more content at Patreon.com/wordfacts
Previous
Previous

1568: Metonymy Mar 31, 2019

Next
Next

1566: On Contractions Mar 29, 2019