On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Jim Ellwanger <[email protected]>wrote:
> On Dec 22, 2013, at 11:42 AM, Bob Jersey <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The grassy strip in a widely-divided highway here in PA can also be > called a "median," as for a time there were "KEEP OFF MEDIAN" signs on them. > > As with most U.S. road signs, that’s Federally mandated language (per the > Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control > Devices), so it may not necessarily reflect local usage. When I read that question my first reaction was: 'Grass? On a freeway?". The main shibboleth that still marks me as SoCal bred, even compared with Bay Area folks, is putting the definite article in front of freeway names and numbers. I guess this is highlighted in the SNL sketch, though to my ear they are only making fun of the inflection and obsession with routing information, since using "the" just seems obvious and natural. The route obsession though also seems to me to be stereotypical of people from NYC, who do not fetishize freeways of course, but do bridges, tunnels and subway stations. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
