# Bus Shelter Design Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433 "2005-09-26T03:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/1 "2005-09-26T03:15:14Z")
Here in HK, where we get torrential rain, the bus shelters, which are made of stainless stell rafters supporting a transparent roof made of light green polycarbonate, have a kind of ridge (about 4-5 inches high) on the circumference/periphery of the roof, to stop water sheeting off on poor unsuspecting passengers. What is such a feature typically called? A ridge doesn’t sound quite right. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/2 "2005-09-26T03:36:42Z")
a gutter? That’s what we call them over here in the US (attached ridges that divert the flow from a sloped or flat roof to downspouts to suitable waterways) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/3 "2005-09-26T03:52:30Z")
I think it’s probably an eave. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/4 "2005-09-26T03:55:52Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > I think it’s probably an eave. I like eave(s). Gutter sounds to me too much like the drainpipe by which accumulated water is transported to the pavement (sidewalk). ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/5 "2005-09-26T04:41:32Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > I like eave(s). Gutter sounds to me too much like the drainpipe by which accumulated water is transported to the pavement (sidewalk). Whatever you like. My HOUSE has a kind of ridge (about 4-5 inches high) on the circumference/periphery of the roof (the eaves), to stop water sheeting off on poor unsuspecting passers-by, and the driveway, and the yard. Those are my gutters. The eave is the roof edge overhang. The gutter is the ridge (trough) that keeps the water from spilling straight OFF the eave onto the people below. Call it what you want. It’s a gutter. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/6 "2005-09-26T04:53:54Z")
I think it’s as much a matter of schema (the way the brain organises things) and concept as anything else. You yourself write of a ‘gutter’ as being a ‘ridge’ or ‘trough’, which I think point to the problem. A ridge is prototypically understood as sticking up, while a trough is prototypically seen as extending down. Well, by me, of course. My idea of a gutter is the thing that Ben Stiller lit the leaves in with his lit cigarette in Meet the Parents, something that is _perceived_ to, even if it doesn’t actually, sit flush with the bottom roof tile. (Come to think of it, it could hardly be above it, as it wouldn’t function very well to collect the water in that case.) However, since ‘eaves’ are typically understood as the \*lower \* edges of the roof, I’m stuck with ‘ridge’ for the time being - unless I use a phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/7 "2005-09-26T04:56:58Z")
Isn’t that an eavestrough? ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/8 "2005-09-26T06:38:01Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Here in HK, where we get torrential rain, the bus shelters, which are made of stainless stell rafters supporting a transparent roof made of light green polycarbonate, have a kind of ridge (about 4-5 inches high) on the circumference/periphery of the roof, to stop water sheeting off on poor unsuspecting passengers. > > What is such a feature typically called? A ridge doesn’t sound quite right. The lip? ---
**Author:** ![daddymax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de0a6/32.png) [@daddymax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daddymax)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bus-shelter-design-question/323433/9 "2005-09-27T14:10:51Z")
I believe that it is called a cricket.