# "Devil's strip" origin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562 "2004-07-11T15:14:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/21 "2004-07-14T22:34:52Z")
I was just in another thread (the one in IMHO about grinders) and someone linked to the [Harvard Dialect Survey](http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.php). Chekc out this relevant question: [What do you call the area of grass between the sidewalk and the road?](http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/staticmaps/q_60.html) The results (check out the link for maps) broke down as: > [@](#): > > a. berm (4.01%) > b. parking (1.75%) > c. tree lawn (1.92%) > d. terrace (0.73%) > e. curb strip (8.65%) > f. beltway (0.17%) > g. verge (2.56%) > h. I have no word for this (67.92%) > i. other (12.30%) > (10589 respondents) Devil’s strip isn’t listed but I see a fair percentage of the respondants picked “other”. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/22 "2004-07-14T22:41:46Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > What part of metro Detroit? I ask not to stalk you, but I’ve never heard it called “devil’s strip” nor “treelawn” here. It’s just an “easement” as far as I’ve ever heard. I grew up in Madison Heights in the 1960s and 1970s, and all I ever heard it called, if it was called anything, was “easement”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/23 "2004-07-15T00:48:49Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Chekc out this relevant question So relevant, in fact, that it was already linked to by **SmackFu**. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/24 "2004-07-15T02:47:43Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > So relevant, in fact, that it was already linked to by **SmackFu**. Dang it. And I was so proud of myself when I was cruisin’ that page, saw the question, and remembered this thread. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/25 "2004-07-15T05:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > What part of metro Detroit? I ask not to stalk you, but I’ve never heard it called “devil’s strip” nor “treelawn” here. It’s just an “easement” as far as I’ve ever heard. Well, when I lived in Royal Oak, I was too young to call it anything (and they widened Washington when I was an infant, eliminating it in front of my house. When I lived in Rochester, we called it the “township property,” but we were out in the now disappeared Avon Township. When we moved to Orion Township, we called it the ditch (because there were no sidewalks, but it _was_ a ditch). However, at the same time, I started high school in Detroit, where I ran into guys from all over metro Detroit, so I have no provenance for the source of “tree lawn.” Looking at **SmackFu** ’s link, it is a bit surprising how many of the different terms have strong support in metro Detroit. (I would guess that the number of people from around the country who came to Detroit for jobs probably brought in a lot of terms that might have remained neighborhood-specific.) I had never heard it called a _berm_ in Detroit, although the link shows it being used there. (In my experience working for a landscape company, _berm_ was used (against all etymology or logic) to refer to a raised earthen landscape feature.) Around Cleveland, _berm_ is more typically used in place of _shoulder_–which makes sense, since few NE Ohio roads have anything that a Michigander would actually call a _shoulder_. I may have heard _easement_ used around Detroit, but I more frequently heard that word used (correctly) to indicate a place on one’s property where other people or entities could put a road or utilities. (I can see the logic behind _easement_ as the place the city/county/township owns the land but the homeowner is permitted to plant grass or flowers.) ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/26 "2004-07-15T07:14:50Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > …I may have heard _easement_ used around Detroit, but I more frequently heard that word used (correctly) to indicate a place on one’s property where other people or entities could put a road or utilities. (I can see the logic behind _easement_ as the place the city/county/township owns the land but the homeowner is permitted to plant grass or flowers.) Easement or ‘boulevard’ is what I have heard it referred to around here. Devils strip I have heard used to refer to uh, well, there is this space between your-never mind. Family friendly and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/27 "2004-07-15T07:35:10Z")
In Australia I have only ever heard the term _nature strip_. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/28 "2004-07-15T12:37:07Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I may have heard _easement_ used around Detroit, but I more frequently heard that word used (correctly) to indicate a place on one’s property where other people or entities could put a road or utilities. (I can see the logic behind _easement_ as the place the city/county/township owns the land but the homeowner is permitted to plant grass or flowers.) In the “devil’s strip” the city/county/township can place street signs, lamposts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/29 "2004-07-15T13:10:10Z")
> [@NotQuiteAYinzer](#): > > Which part of Akron are you in? I never heard it referred to as anything but that while growing up in Goodyear Heights. Ellet. ---
**Author:** ![hapaXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@hapaXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hapaXL)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/30 "2004-07-15T22:36:36Z")
Here in the Bay Area, I’ve heard it called the “parking strip.” AFAIK, it’s my property, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/31 "2004-07-15T22:49:50Z")
I’m from 12 miles east of Akron. We always called it a devil’s strip. I’m also from 35 miles south of Cleveland, but until today I’d never heard the term “treelawn.” Still haven’t; I’ve only read it. Down here in Houston, I don’t know what they call it. I think maybe easement. But I call it a devil’s strip. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/32 "2004-07-16T01:27:43Z")
Googling “hellstrip” yields 84 results. I first saw them called hellstrips on the Lawnsite bbs. They’re referred to thusly because having to mow them can be hell. [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=hellstrip&btnG=Google+Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=hellstrip&btnG=Google+Search) ---
**Author:** ![factorial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@factorial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/factorial)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562/33 "2004-07-16T01:44:10Z")
My parents always called it a “parkway” and so I do as well. Although “easement” is also one I’ve heard here in a southwestern suburb of Chicago. I saw “berm” mentioned. We call a raised, mulched thing where plants/trees (not grass) are planted a “berm”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/devils-strip-origin/254562.md?page=1)