Roaming the country, as we do, we become accustomed to the vernacular used by people across the land for certain things. We are able to map the difference between “you guys”, “y’all”, and that tiny pocket of “youse guys” that Brian lives in around the Northeast. We know where “pop” ends, “soda” begins, and the isolated pockets in the South that believe that “a Coke” is the only proper way to describe a sugar bomb in a can. And that’s before you get into Colin Woodward’s take that the country is really eleven nations within itself. Given that a lot of countries can fit within the borders of the lower 48 states, it’s not surprising that wordplay changes as you travel further from where you came from.
Take, for example, how Southern Californians refer to their freeway system compared to the rest of the country. On the whole, most of the United States will simply refer to the road itself, for example: “Take I-17 south to Phoenix, then take I-10 east until you start seeing the airport exits.” Easy, simple, no question where you are going. “As you head east on Interstate 70 out of the mountains, prepare to connect to C-470 south. This road will keep you out of Denver and will connect you to Interstate 25, which will take you south to Colorado Springs.” Again, easy and simple, clear to understand. Now, the SoCal0 method: “You’re gonna get onto the 101 and take it to the 5. Then you’ll head south on the 5 to the 8. Get on the 8 and don’t stop driving until you’re at the beach.”
Notice something: “The 101.” “The 5.” Southern Californians are pretty unique in referring to their freeway system as “The ___”. So where did that come from? Long before the actual Interstate system was developed, the Southern California area had a system of parkways that served to funnel traffic out of the metropolitan areas. Instead of being numbered, they were named, usually with the destination or main geographic feature as the name, such as the San Bernadino Parkway. The State of California did affix route numbers to the parkways, but it wasn’t anything like the system in place today. One parkway could have three different numbers, all of which were legitimate, and well within use.
As Interstates came into play, numbers were added, even though the older freeway/parkway names remained in use. Caltrans even used the names in signage throughout the later 1980s. But eventually the numbers won out, and instead of taking the Ventura Freeway, locals simply took the 101.
(Courtesy: kcet.org)
In Lake Havasu we like to hit the 40. This also explains why very few of us have a drivers license.
Thanks, I needed that morning chuckle!
We kind of use it here in NY too. Wanna go to JFK ? Take the Hutch to the Whitestone then the Van Wyck right to the Airport,simple. Just names .
So why don’t other states that had/or have a lot of parkways call their interstates “The XXX”??? This has more to do with alot Californians being weirdo’s more than anything. Gotta go get on The 95 and get to work, seeya
The local freeway naming convention that I found the strangest was in D.C. I kept hearing the guy on the radio talk about traffic on the “inner loop” and “outer loop”. I stared at the rental car map but could only see one loop around D.C. I finally asked someone at the office and they explained that “inner loop” and “outer loop” were used to differentiate between clockwise and counter-clockwise traffic on the same loop freeway.
Weird.
If you’re in Pennsylvania, avoid the Hershey Highway. It gets backed up.
The inner/outer loop in DC always made sense to me. In Atlanta I-285 is a circle but traffic guys still use northbound, eastbound etc. At some point you’re going to change directions without getting off the road. Inner/outer loop never changes direction.
True, the directions can get confusing (eastbound on 610 south). However, there are several cities with more than 1 loop where inner loop and outer loop mean different roads. Houston, for example, is building it’s 4th loop.
Don’t forget that ~50% of the exits out here aren’t numbered yet….
As a transplant from “OFF” here in CA, there are lots of quibbles about the freeways out here that I find somewhere between strange and annoying.
The San Francisco Bay Area is it’s own world. It would prefer to be thought of as not connected to Southern CA or Los Angeles in any way.
Southern Californians were proud of their freeway constructions and liked them to have proper names such as the Pasadena Freeway or Simi Valley Freeway, which also helped give the outlying destination a sense of place within the metro area as a whole. But in the jaded generations it became cooler to just say the number. “The”, stayed with it. What’s in a name? Having a freeway such as Interstate 15 wind up with no less than SEVEN different given names along it’s length in California (“Hey, let’s all call this section the ‘CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Alfred E. Stewart Memorial Highway’ this year, it’ll help make for a great local naming ceremony”) (with all due respect to the officers) helped make it so that none of the names matter any more. It’s the I-15, dude, goes to Vegas.
When I first moved to So Cal in ’79 I would get so confused driving around. The signs would say “Harbor Fwy 11 Burbank” or “Harbor Fwy 11 Compton”. Not 11 North or 11 South. If you didn’t know whether Burbank was north or south of you you didn’t know which way to go. It has been changed now but it was pretty confusing back then.
Being a truck driver from the North East I never understood the Hillbilly south language at all. They used to tell me I ” listen to fast ” . WTF does that mean ? To me they all sound like they are drinking a ” Co-Cola ” and munching on deep fried Racoon ass holes, or worse, while they speak. One time I was getting the truck washed in Las Vegas for the race and some corn cracker pulled in be hind me and said…..”what dey be lackin on yall ” ? And yes, he was white. For some unknown to this day I understood what he said. I said just this corner of the trailer and the back gate. I shocked myself and my wife. She put me into therapy classes while we were in town for 4 days and they were able to break the understanding of hillbilly. I feel much better these days.
Hell, It’s all y’all Yankees that can’t speak English. Try learning it before y’all come South to the real United States. 🙂
Before the Simi Freeway was finished to get to Disney Land it was Simi FWY to San Fernando,San Diego FWY to Long Beach, ( Ill say Ventura but I dont think thats correct running by Griffith Park , Golden State Fwy to Anaheim.
It was fun to take the San Diego FWY to Santa Monica (south) then continue to Long Beach and to get home take the San Diego fwy to Santa Monica (north) .
Adding the word THE to the freeways in LA likens them to that kid you played with, and got you in trouble, that your parents added That to his first name. They are almost like family when you spend so much time on them everyday. Nearly everyone has some sort of love/hate relationship with them. The ones that love them accept them as part of the experience of living in LA, like the beaches and warm sun. They understand that traffic sucks, expect it, plan for it, and are pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t suck. The ones that hate the freeways fight it, live in denial, and are always mad because they don’t plan for the lousy traffic. You can see these people seething behind the wheel as if they are at war with slow traffic. So, yes, the people of SoCal give the freeways names that no one else does.
Here in western NY, we refer to the I90 as “the thruway” and we have to go “all the way to Buffalo”!