I got stabbed, you know, right here.

Mal ,'Shindig'


Natter 69: Practically names itself.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


§ ita § - Dec 06, 2011 6:25:24 am PST #10062 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

My favourite "How you expect me to find that?" is High Street, in, say, London. I have no idea how many there are, but basically it's just a concept. When the main road that goes through your neighbourhood has the highest density of stores, it is now High Street. Everybody's got one, and 23a High Street is a perfectly cromulent (if oft-appearing) building.

In my neighbourhood now, the problem is National. Most streets behave. Wilshire does a thing with Santa Monica where they switch who's north of who, but mostly they behave.

National does not behave. Do not attempt to reroute via National. It goes neither north-south nor east-west, not really. It just goes. And I think there are mini-Nationals too, so you can't be sure of the street address unless you're really sure of the street address.


Connie Neil - Dec 06, 2011 6:32:29 am PST #10063 of 30001
brillig

Sycamore Road in DeKalb and DeKalb Road in Sycamore.

Hey, it makes perfect sense! In DeKalb, it's the road you take to get to Sycamore, and in Sycamore, it's the road you take to get to DeKalb, easy peasy. They're named based on where you want to go to, not where you are (that made sense in my head).

I'm still kind of getting used the distances here.

Thats kind of amusing, because when I moved from Pennsylvania to Utah, I was freaked out by having to drive more than 10 miles to get somewhere. The town 25 miles away was a Saturday excursion, and a trip to Pittsburgh, 50 miles away, was something you planned a week in advance. Now a trip to Salt Lake City, also 50 miles away, is something we'll think of doing in the evening.

Of course, in PA, freeway speeds are 55 mph, and in Utah freeway speeds are "just below what the cops are able to catch you for."


Steph L. - Dec 06, 2011 6:32:31 am PST #10064 of 30001
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

There is a highway in Cincinnati that used to be called Cross County Highway. At some point it got renamed to Ronald Reagan Highway, but everyone just kept calling it Cross County Highway. And then if you google directions, Google Maps refers to the highway by its number (Rt. 562).

I think it might have been re-renamed to Ronald Regan Cross County Highway. And all the road signs have Rt. 562 on them, in addition to "Ronald Regan Cross County Highway."

Still, it (rightfully) confuses the SHIT out of people who aren't from here. You'd think a highway's nomenclature would be easy. But no.


DavidS - Dec 06, 2011 6:34:38 am PST #10065 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Nothing's going to beat lower Manhattan where one street intersects itself.


Nora Deirdre - Dec 06, 2011 6:39:45 am PST #10066 of 30001
I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast! (Bojack Horseman)

Nothing's going to beat lower Manhattan where one street intersects itself.

"It's like the nexus of the universe!"


sarameg - Dec 06, 2011 6:51:44 am PST #10067 of 30001

The main street I take to work (note: 2 miles and all of 3 roads not my address) is at least 3 in my short drive. Ultimately, it splits into a 4th (another one I take), merges into a fifth that then becomes a sixth. All within 3 or 4 miles, I'd say. (ohwow, take it further east and it becomes a seventh and splits yet again.)


askye - Dec 06, 2011 6:51:45 am PST #10068 of 30001
Thrive to spite them

One of the main roads in Tallahassee switches from Tennessee to Mahan Dr. The sign explaining why it's called Mahan is on the Tennessee portion and some people just refer to Tennessee St for the whole stretch. My old job was right near the intersection where the name changed and sometimes we'd get people coming in confused.

Also another main street takes a curve and turns into a new name. That one isn't too bad because there's an intersection and there's more of demarcation.

Then there's the street that ens at FSU and picks back up on the other side.

After Ronald Reagan died some state politician from Central Florida wanted to pass legislation that another major road be changed from Apalachee Parkway to Ronald Reagan Memorial Parkway (or something like that). It was extremely unpopular and never got off the ground.


JenP - Dec 06, 2011 7:02:10 am PST #10069 of 30001

Caught up.

In Delaware when I learned to drive, everything was Rte. numbers. I didn't know the actual names of many main routes.

Post office: I'm still surprised when a letter I drop in a mail box or at the post office gets somewhere the next day. I guess I feel like it should always take about 2-3 days like it did in my youth. When I was mailing bills as a first-time self payer of bills, I sent them out a week in advance of when they were due because I guess I thought it still took that long, which it probably didn't.

So, postal changes will not be hard for me to adjust to, I guess, because I never caught up with how fast things were actually getting delivered. And that fact that I can get mail delivered to my door and leave things for the postal carrier to pick up is really kind of super convenient. We should keep that.


DavidS - Dec 06, 2011 7:02:28 am PST #10070 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Huh. I didn't realize Lisa Bonet had two kids with Jason Momoa.

I must've let my subscription to People lapse that decade.


Jesse - Dec 06, 2011 7:10:32 am PST #10071 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Huh. I didn't realize Lisa Bonet had two kids with Jason Momoa.

More future supermodels.

Or, I mean, of course they can do whatever they want with their lives, but I am sure they will look like supermodels.