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I'm on my phone and not able to readily dig up the link, but there was a linguistic study about the differences between the audience who use definite articles f
by mdaniel 1y ago
I'm on my phone and not able to readily dig up the link, but there was a linguistic study about the differences between the audience who use definite articles for highways/freeways/interstates and the transit system, versus those who just use the distinctive noun ("101", "80", "Bart")
I thought it was interesting and I'm sorry a hint at it is all I can offer right now
- dehrmann 1y agoSocal says "The 101" because its a holdover from names like the Hollywood Freeway, before freeways were numbered. No idea why Norcal didn't do the same; you still hear "The Bayshore Freeway" or "The Nimitz Freeway" sometimes. My theory is the rest of the country picked up on what Socal does through media and assumed it's a California thing.
- kelnos 1y ago> you still hear "The Bayshore Freeway" or "The Nimitz Freeway" sometimes. Oh huh. I certainly see these tiles on maps, but in 21 years in the bay area, I have only ever heard of one highway where people sometimes call it by the name (Skyline) rather than the number (35). And even then, I think that's pretty rare. I wonder what's different about the people you and I interact with that makes it different for you.