Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Greetings from the Right Coast

Been out in the northeast since Sunday. It's finally cooled off and today is a beautifully bright yet breezy summer day -- the only thing that could make it better would be if Caroline and I were sitting on the beach/pool relaxing instead of working indoors.

Anyhoo - I wanted to share some words/terms that I only get to here when out here..I've heard some of these words used in other states but never in California...
  • Turnpike (the Mass turnpike - I think it's the name of a freeway, not totally sure)
  • Beltway (I think this is also a freeway...but I am once again not sure)
  • Feeder Road (one way roads that run parallel to the freeway that you take for awhile sometimes to either get on/off the freeway then in order to make turns...)
  • Jug Handle (apparently in CA we call it a clover leaf, but I don't remember ever using that terminology...I believe I've said something like "the exit will kinda u-turn around...")
  • Rotary (I actually haven't seen any of these in CA yet...but instead of a 4 way stop, you can have 6 or how ever many lanes intersecting by placing a big fucking circle in the middle...so strange)
  • Wicked (an adjective, much like the use of "super" in my vocabulary - native to Mass)
  • Cookout (what we call a BBQ)
  • Finally they call freeways by name, where we call them by numbers. The LIE (Long Island Expressway) or Mass Turnpike instead of our 280 or 101...which actually have real names too, not just numerical values.
Basically a useless post today, but just felt the need to share.

2 comments:

Malibu Betty said...

I've paid tolls on a beltway before...though so whatevah

traffic reporters reshmorters, you and i as regular people never call it the nimitz or bayshore.

Malibu Betty said...

I think most people use the numbers than the names though.

Interesting point...in Houston, the Sam Houston Tollway is also Beltway 8 and Highway 45....3 names for the same fucking road...arg.