Date:  Wed, 30 Nov 1994 10:32:06 -0800

From:  Birrell Walsh <birrell[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WELL.SF.CA.US>

Subject: Re: 'the' in place names (Kaye)



Vicki Rosenzweig's New York report made me think of the names of San

Francisco neighborhoods.



The Mission

The Haight

The Ingleside

The Sunset

The Western Addition

The Richmond

The Castro

The Marina



but



Noe Valley

Hunters Point

Japantown

Chinatown

North Beach

Twin Peaks



Bayview and the Bayview are both heard,

as are South of Market and the South of Market. The former is older;

when it was a largely Irish neighborhood it was called South of the Slot

because there was a cable-car (with a slot to grip the cable) running on

Market Street.



These usages are pretty close to universal. I have been here since 1966,

and I think they have held constant over that time.



I don't see a pattern in these, myself; but anyone who said the wrong

form would be marked as an auslander.



Birrell