Date:  Thu, 10 Nov 1994 13:22:15 -0800

From:  Dan Alford <dalford[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]S1.CSUHAYWARD.EDU>

Subject: Freeway names



Being new, I know not whether you have discussed the major NoCAL vs SoCAL

dialectal distinction I've noticed -- re: how freeways are referred to.

In Southern California it's always: you take *the* 101 to *the* 405...,

whereas in Northern California you take 101 to 680. Since I was raised in

LA but am now firmly in the SF area, and now firmly 101 to 680 and only

dimly remember the *the* dialect that I grew up with as the LA freeways

changed a somewhat sleepy local eventually into a megalopolis (as the old

city trains became a distant memory and pennies put on rusting tracks

got flattened no more) -- I'm intrigued: why didn't the *the* spread

with the corresponding word and item to just 350 miles north? Is this

part of some larger *DET-ARTICLE DROP* Bay Areal feature?



                            -- Moonhawk (%->)

  <"The fool on the hill sees the sun going down and>

  <the eyes in his head see the world spinning round">

                     <-- John Lennon>