“Do Not Pass” Truck Squad

[carrps]

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.

[Saint_Cad]

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.

[DrDeth]

@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.

[garygnu]

It’s grammatically stupid.

[carrps]

Why?

with the blah blah blah for Discourse.

[DrDeth]

@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.

[garygnu]

You don’t put a “the” in front of a proper name.

[Pork_Rind]

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.

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

@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.”

[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 hear someone speak of crossing Rocky Mountains, were they necessarily west of Mississippi River?

[Pork_Rind]

BRAVO.

[DrDeth]

@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.

[wolfpup]

@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.

[pjd]

@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.