Around here roads are commonly named after 1. people who used to live there a hundred years ago, 2. the town the road goes to, or went to at one time. 3. a major business, like a that has long since folded.
The usual habit of naming a road after the town it goes to is especially challenging for newcomers, since no one at the time of naming grasped that roads generally go both ways. If you are going west the road has one name and if you are going east, another name. Sometimes. Fairly often there are multiple roads named for the same town they go to. The result is that people rarely refer to roads by their names at all. “The river road to Janesville” or “the back road to Janesville that goes through Dogtown” is how people talk.
Fortunately the cemeteries are on the top part of the road & around several bends, out of view from the nursing home.
However, McKeesport Hospital overlooks McKeesport Versailles Cemetery. (Note that around here, “Versailles” is pronounced “ver-sales,” not “ver-si”. If you say “ver-si,” people look at you like you’re crazy.).
One of the developments in the north of town named the streets for singers. Operations & Maintenance eventually had to post the name sign for Hendrix Drive on a streetlight pole to put it high up enough to be hard to steal.
Agree w @Seanette. In my dialect those words are completely indistinguishable.
My mental decode of AFFLE HOUSE was “awful house”. Offal is a word I know, but substantially never use. If I’m going to eat or refer to any of it, it’ll be the specific species and organ, not the generic term.
The same thing with US-666 People kept stealing the signs, especially the week after it was announced the designation was being changed to US-491, since 66 was no longer there for it to be a spur from.
Or worse, “Turn left at where the Piggly Wiggly used to be.”
I can tell you why. Those big bully’s jump high on hot pavement. It will scare the bejeeus outta you. If you’re unaware. I’ve had them hit the windshield.
One time one hit my car and ended up stuck to the luggage rack. When we got home and looked it was still alive and trying to get his fat body loose. We got him out and put him by our pond. When I hear croaking frogs at night I always remember the thankful look he gave when he dove into the water.
Also it makes a real mess when you squish one under a tire.
I don’t doubt that those sorts of things happen in Arkansas, Beck, but this is Outwood in Surrey for goodness sake! Dame Judi Dench lives there - we can’t have frogs jumping on our national treasures!
(I thought the sign was there because there there were protected natterjack toads in the pond, but I’ve completely failed to establish this. Hmmm.)
In Germany, the reasons for the “Caution, toads crossing” signs are actually to slow down or even stop traffic to let the animals pass, and to warn against skidding on squished toads.
ETA: and what @Mops said in his more elaborate post beneath.
