[Miata] 2 questions and regionalisms NMC

[Mullen, Tim]

pethier at comcast.net pethier at comcast.net wrote:
> > > A Minnesotan would never consider saying "THE 494".  It's just
"494".
> > > 
> > 
> > That's because you don't have as many freeways as we do. 
> 
> I don't see a cause-result relationship here.   Having 40 
> freeways instead of 5 would have nothing to do with this 
> linguistic quirk.

It most likely evolved over time.

Originally, freeways in Southern California had names (they 
still do).

People referred to "The Pasadena Freeway".

But as more were built, the freeways got longer.  The names 
changed depending on the area that you were in - for instance 
"The 10" is "The San Bernardino Freeway" when you are in the 
San Bernardino area, but when you get close to the coast, 
"The 10" becomes "The Santa Monica Freeway".  I believe it 
has at least one other name in between.  Similar things to 
the other freeways.

So, instead of saying "Take the San Bernardino Freeway West, 
follow it through Pomona, Covina, etc. until it becomes The 
Santa Monica Freeway and get off at Exit XYZ."  It just 
became much easier to say "Take the 10 until Exit XYZ".

Or take the 10 to the 405 North...

Much easier, much simpler, and most people actually don't 
know all the names anyway.


While on the subject of regionalisms, notice that in 
California, they refer to "Freeway" while the rest of the 
country refers to "Interstate"?

Tim Mullen 
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