OK. I thought Brad was saying the problem with "The" was that there was more than one I-295.
And no, I don't think I have or would ever say something like "I took 5 downtown" (always it would be either "the 5" or "the Golden State"). I do recall some discussion of regional differences in referring to highways, but I thought it had something to do with the preference for using names vs numbers. BTW, I did get reminded repeatedly that one term they don't use much back east is "freeway", since they seemed to charge us for every freakin mile we drove. On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 9:29 PM, Jim Ellwanger <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jan 23, 2009, at 8:45 PM, PGage wrote: > >> Is the point that East Coasters don't use "The 295" because there is >> more than one stretch of road designated I-295? That just seems odd to >> me. Isn't it true that there is only one 295 that stretches over many >> different miles? I don't see any grammatical problems with calling it >> "The" 295. > > > It's not a grammatical problem at all. It's a local dialect issue: > the "the (route number)" construction is peculiar to the southern > California dialect. It's not just an East Coast thing; everywhere in > the U.S. outside southern California, the locals would say "295" or > "I-295" or "the (name of road)," depending on what the local custom > is, and it may differ in certain contexts. (Yes, "the (name of > road)," but not "the (route number).") > > For example, the portion of Interstate 90 that runs northwest of the > Loop in Chicago is called "the Kennedy Expressway," and once it gets > past O'Hare, it turns into "the Illinois Tollway," which it remains > until the Wisconsin state border. A Chicagoan would probably say they > took "the Kennedy" to work, they took "the Tollway" to Rockford, > Illinois, and they took "I-90" to the Wisconsin Dells. > > If that naming scheme were transferred to Los Angeles, the locals > would be taking "the Hollywood" to downtown, "the Ventura" to > Calabasas, and "U.S. 101" (or just "101") to Santa Barbara. > > This actually is sort of on-topic for this list, because many southern > California-based scriptwriters have put "the (route number)" into the > mouths of characters who are supposed to be in, and from, other parts > of the country. > > I will admit that, now that I've lived in L.A. for almost 10 years, > I've adopted "the (route number)," to the extent that I've caught it > coming out of my mouth when I'm in other parts of the country...and it > immediately sounds wrong to my ears when it does. > > -- > Jim Ellwanger <[email protected]> > <http://www.ellwanger.tv> > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
