Grammarian on Wheels
While showering, I thought of an old argument I've had with several people including a few classmates regarding THE grammatical propriety of adding THE definite article to a freeway number. This is primarily done in Southern California where we travel on THE 405, THE 10, THE 101, etc. In Northern California, and I'm told elsewhere in THE country, THE definite article is omitted. So when giving directions, these poor souls sound like this: "Umm take 880 to 580 then to 80..." Yuck.
I've always argued that "THE" modifies freeway and THE number in between is an adjective. This would make sense grammatically. THE most intelligent argument against it was posed by a classmate who said that we don't say, "Take THE Bancroft Street to Boalt." For some very bizarre reasons, no doubt, it dawned on me yesterday while showering that Dorothy follows THE Yellow Brick Road. Bancroft is a proper name and a definite article is redundant. In SoCal, for whatever reason, we don't perceive THE numbers on freeways as proper names but as adjectives modifying freeway in general. It could be THE culture or just utility (we have too damn many freeways yet not nearly enough). But it makes sense. This is also THE reason why when we switch THE wording around slightly "THE" is dropped, e.g. Highway 101 as opposed to THE Highway 101.
THE mysterious tid bit in all this is why THE Pacific Coast Highway becomes simply PCH. I have yet to hear one single individual utter, "Take THE PCH."
I've always argued that "THE" modifies freeway and THE number in between is an adjective. This would make sense grammatically. THE most intelligent argument against it was posed by a classmate who said that we don't say, "Take THE Bancroft Street to Boalt." For some very bizarre reasons, no doubt, it dawned on me yesterday while showering that Dorothy follows THE Yellow Brick Road. Bancroft is a proper name and a definite article is redundant. In SoCal, for whatever reason, we don't perceive THE numbers on freeways as proper names but as adjectives modifying freeway in general. It could be THE culture or just utility (we have too damn many freeways yet not nearly enough). But it makes sense. This is also THE reason why when we switch THE wording around slightly "THE" is dropped, e.g. Highway 101 as opposed to THE Highway 101.
THE mysterious tid bit in all this is why THE Pacific Coast Highway becomes simply PCH. I have yet to hear one single individual utter, "Take THE PCH."
Labels: Grammar Snarks
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 3:42 AM
4 Comments:
Interesting obvservation. But what gets confusing in the Bay Area are the sections of freeway that are sometimes referred to by proper names. Like "Take THE Nimitz," [880]. Or, "Take THE Bayshore," [um, 101, I think, but just part of it]. Problem being that these names aren't usually on maps.
Actually, that was confusing about SoCal driving too.
In New York City major highways are almost never referred to by their route #. They all have proper names, usually named after people. I once read a columnist though who said it was hardly an honor to have a road named after you in New York City, given the deplorable condition they all ended up in...
Hah, I guess LA and NY at least have that in common. I was slightly disturbed when CalTrans named the 170 and 101/134 interchange after a former CHP commissioner then proceeded with a multi-million dollar retrofitting program because the support columns were in dire straits.
Did you see the sun setting behind Route 101 today? It almost looked like A Golden Gate across the Bay.
For your next flame war, you can debate the correct pronunciation of the word "route." Back in NJ, where we took THE Parkway and THE Turnpike and also Route 4 and Route 17, we pronounced it "root." Which is naturally the correct pronunciation that all good-hearted people should follow.
Post a Comment
<< Home