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> shifted since the 1970s to numbers Post-2000, SoCal usage is usually with the definite article: "the 101 or the 5" NorCal is usually with no article: "101 or

> shifted since the 1970s to numbers Post-2000, SoCal usage is usually with the definite article: "the 101 or the 5" NorCal is usually with no article: "101 or I-5". The SoCal pattern is rooted in the named freeway usages of earlier decades, but while the style of traffic reporting may still use "the Golden State freeway", popular usage became terser over time, leading to "the 5". The entire topic and regional differences can easily produce animated discussions, both in-person, and online.

OfSanguineFire 3y ago
That SoCal people refer, and refer often, to freeways by number is the basis of the SNL skit “The Californians”[0]. I always assumed that that skit was a great exaggeration. But last winter I cycled from LAX across Southern California to Mexico, and the local people I chatted with really were like that. “I love doing activity X or eating food Y, so sometimes I’ll take the [interstate number] to [place] and get off at [street name].” No one really grasped that as a foreigner on a bike, all those numbers were incomprehensible to me. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8
- majormajor 3y ago
  > That SoCal people refer, and refer often, to freeways by number is the basis of the SNL skit “The Californians”[0]. Those skits aren't about the number, they're about the word "the." Elsewhere in the country, where the freeways were built later and didn't have as many old established pre-number names, people talk like "Take 75 and then go west on 285 to [whatever exit]. And surface street names, SoCal or elsewhere, rarely have "the" anywhere (nobody would say "go to The Sunset Avenue"); it's a specific history-of-freeways-in-Socal thing. A foreigner not knowing local street names seems completely unrelated to numbers-vs-word-names or "the".
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    No, the skits are, per interviews with the writers, about the fact that SoCal conversations bring up driving instructions far more than in New York City where the show is based. This also reflects in the skit in the mention of finding parking. But in the context of this thread, the skits do support SoCal use of “the”.
    - majormajor 3y ago
      That's a fun fact, and makes sense for a bunch of NYC-based writers which is one of the few non-driving-happy places in the US.

OfSanguineFire 3y ago

That SoCal people refer, and refer often, to freeways by number is the basis of the SNL skit “The Californians”[0]. I always assumed that that skit was a great exaggeration. But last winter I cycled from LAX across Southern California to Mexico, and the local people I chatted with really were like that. “I love doing activity X or eating food Y, so sometimes I’ll take the [interstate number] to [place] and get off at [street name].” No one really grasped that as a foreigner on a bike, all those numbers were incomprehensible to me. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8

majormajor 3y ago
> That SoCal people refer, and refer often, to freeways by number is the basis of the SNL skit “The Californians”[0]. Those skits aren't about the number, they're about the word "the." Elsewhere in the country, where the freeways were built later and didn't have as many old established pre-number names, people talk like "Take 75 and then go west on 285 to [whatever exit]. And surface street names, SoCal or elsewhere, rarely have "the" anywhere (nobody would say "go to The Sunset Avenue"); it's a specific history-of-freeways-in-Socal thing. A foreigner not knowing local street names seems completely unrelated to numbers-vs-word-names or "the".
- OfSanguineFire 3y ago
  No, the skits are, per interviews with the writers, about the fact that SoCal conversations bring up driving instructions far more than in New York City where the show is based. This also reflects in the skit in the mention of finding parking. But in the context of this thread, the skits do support SoCal use of “the”.
  - majormajor 3y ago
    That's a fun fact, and makes sense for a bunch of NYC-based writers which is one of the few non-driving-happy places in the US.