Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 09:04:45 -0600

From: Joan Livingston-Webber webber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CWIS.UNOMAHA.EDU

Subject: "the" 101



Maybe I'm reading too fast--I got pretty far behind in my mail.

But, Alan, are you assuming that "the 101" is the most common

form except in northern CA? I never heard highway numbers with

"the" until the post on this list. (I never noticed in Grafton

either, so I may, in fact, have heard it but didn't register.)

I have lived for long periods in western PA, ND, IN, IL, and NE.

I take 34 when I drive to Illinois from Nebraska or 80 when I go

to Wisconsin. Isn't 101 a grand highway, one that might have

accrued "the" the way a monument would? And would a grand highway

be a kind of southern CA monument? As I read your messages, it

sounds like you're assuming "101" has had a "the" deleted. But

I don't delete a "the" when I'm taking 34 across Iowa. There's

never been a "the" there.

--

Joan Livingston-Webber webber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unomaha.edu

"What gets better is the precision with which we vex each other."

-Clifford Geertz