# “Do Not Pass” Truck Squad **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932 "2023-12-21T13:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/21 "2023-12-22T19:23:25Z")
I don’t understand why it gets people’s dander up. Everybody else is _so_ proud of _their_ local expressions, but heaven forfend someone say “the” in combination with a highway/freeway number. I’d probably not have been able to stop myself from saying it that way either. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/22 "2023-12-22T19:26:04Z")
It was 10 years ago before Denverites accepted Californians and later Texans were invading them. It’s true, or was at the time, that you had to live in Colorado for 10 years before you were accepted as a Coloradan. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/23 "2023-12-22T22:16:49Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It could have been a motorcade, a pursuit, a wrong way driver, removing some debris from the roadway. I know, becuase it had been called in, that such a thing happened once in Socal due to a ladder and other stuff on the freeway. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I was in a job interview in Denver and I referred to “The” 25. The interviewer jokingly (I thought) said, “You shouldn’t say The 25. You sound like you’re from LA.” Ooooookay. My resume says I taught in LAUSD. Did you even read it? Later I again unconsciously said “The 25” and he stared at me and said, “Seriously! Stop saying The 25!” > > I didn’t get the job. I dont get the hate on that. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/24 "2023-12-24T06:12:16Z")
It’s grammatically stupid. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/25 "2023-12-24T22:04:03Z")
Why? with the blah blah blah for Discourse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/26 "2023-12-24T22:16:07Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > It’s grammatically stupid. Not at all. Look one can say “Get on the I5 freeway” or “get on the 5”. It’s just a shortening. The hate come from NorCal snobbery, who insiste- wrongly- that “No True Northern Californians” would use it. But it creeps in, regardless, becuase it is handy. Mind you SoCal with say “Thee 5” while you can barely hear the “the” up there. NorCal people think- wrongly- they are more sophisticated than SoCal, based on the mistaken belief that Frisco is the Cultural capital of the West. Thus they talk disparagingly of anything they think comes from the LA area. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/27 "2023-12-24T22:34:12Z")
You don’t put a “the” in front of a proper name. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/28 "2023-12-24T23:38:10Z")
Sure you do, at least in some cases. In fact, the reason that Socal folks use ‘the’ in front of the freeway name is a holdover from when the freeways down here had actual names, not numbers as they pre-dated that system. So you would talk about the San Diego Freeway or the Santa Monica freeway. Sounds weird to use those proper names _without_ the definite article. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/29 "2023-12-24T23:50:34Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > You don’t put a “the” in front of a proper name. 🤨 Depending on what the name is, sure you do. “Take the Long Island Expressway.” “Drive on the Van Wyck.” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/30 "2023-12-25T02:18:36Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > You don’t put a “the” in front of a proper name. You can see Louvre from Eiffel Tower, but not Parthenon. If you hear someone speak of crossing Rocky Mountains, were they necessarily west of Mississippi River? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/31 "2023-12-25T04:03:48Z")
BRAVO. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/32 "2023-12-25T05:07:55Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > So you would talk about the San Diego Freeway or the Santa Monica freeway. Exactly. > [@bordelond](#): > > You can see Louvre from Eiffel Tower, but not Parthenon. > > If you hear someone speak of crossing Rocky Mountains, were they necessarily west of Mississippi River? Good one. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/33 "2023-12-25T05:09:46Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@garygnu](#): > > > > You don’t put a “the” in front of a proper name. > > You can see Louvre from Eiffel Tower, but not Parthenon. If you could see far enough across English Channel, you would see United Kingdom. > [@bordelond](#): > > If you hear someone speak of crossing Rocky Mountains, were they necessarily west of Mississippi River? Dunno, but they were definitely in United States. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932/34 "2023-12-26T10:42:56Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In terms of the traffic flow, it’s probably less disruptive to slow things down for a few miles than to bring everything to a stop, even for a few seconds. That would be my guess … i saw similar a while back (in the UK (on the M25)). It was traffic cop cars, and they were slowing down the traffic to prevent it all piling up at the back of a hold-up ahead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-pass-truck-squad/994932.md?page=1)