Travel Lodge: 'Travelodge'

Travel Lodge. 'Travelodge'. Notice the overlapping 'l': two cars in a head-to-head collision.

Travel: to go from palace to place. Originating from the French (13th C) 'travail', meaning 'painful effort'. (www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/index.shtml).

Lodge: multiple definitions apply here: 'a cottage at the gateway to the grounds of a large house or mansion.', 'a small house in the country originally used by people taking part in field sports.' Both of which imply a certain degree of quality: in furnishings and facilities. Yet paradoxically it also implies something more down at heel: 'to live, usually temporarily, in rented accommodation, especially in someone else's home.' (www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/index.shtml).

A Travelodge then, can at least be regarded as a temporary respite from the 'painful effort' of the journey. It is not the final destination.

Sean Cousin
http://pentimento.squarespace.com/