# If you're going to ask for directions, give complete information **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953 "2011-02-28T19:07:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/61 "2011-03-09T16:38:17Z")
A lot of suburbs do that. [http://mapq.st/g7Bou8](http://mapq.st/g7Bou8) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/62 "2011-03-09T18:15:41Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Oddly enough, I have found that people that work at gas stations, convenience stores, retail outlets (pharmacy), etc do not actually know the area, and usually can’t give you directions. Every time I’ve asked anyone like that about something local, I get blank looks and “I don’t live around here”. The latest was I wanted to drop something in the mail as I was heading out of town. I stopped at at store to buy a gift card, then got on the highway, and stopped in an area of the city I don’t hang out looking for a post office. Tried convenience store, then pharmacy, finally one of the customers told me where to find it, a couple blocks away. Seems odd to me, I mean I run errands during the day from work, so I would expect people to know how to find things nearby their place of work (maybe during lunch, or coming and going). But I also live a couple blocks from my office, so to me they’re the same. I live in San Fran, and work about 20 minutes away in Daly City, at a gas station. I can tell you how to get anywhere in SF, how to get to the highway, and how to get to any store I pass on the way to/from work. Otherwise, nope. I do 99% of my personal business in my home area, not my work area. Joe ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/63 "2011-03-09T21:43:25Z")
Not exactly giving directions, but a few years ago I was selling my car on craigslist and the buyer who was coming up to see it called me. My address was 3663. The numbers on the sign outside the condo complex were like 10 inches tall. “I don’t see your place. I see 3660, 3662, then it jumps to 3670.” He sounded frustrated. I paused a really long time to make sure I understood. “Uhm. It’s on the other side of the street.” This guy was in his 40s, no trace of an accent, and he somehow hadn’t figured out that odd numbers and even numbers are on opposite sides of the street. ---
**Author:** ![boyhowdy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@boyhowdy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boyhowdy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/64 "2011-03-11T19:20:37Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > A lot of suburbs do that. > > [http://mapq.st/g7Bou8](http://mapq.st/g7Bou8) Have fun. [Pearl City,Hawaii](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=pearl+city,+hawaii&ie=UTF8&om=1&t=h&z=17&ll=21.400755,-157.957757&spn=0.007452,0.013497&iwloc=addr) This is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Can you imagine a panicky 911 call from someone unfamiliar with the area? Let’s hear it for city planning. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/65 "2011-03-11T19:27:15Z")
Yeah, that one takes the cake, in part because they are in Hawaiian, so unintelligible to most of us. “Is that Hay lee a lo ah lo lay kee? Hi lay uh lo uh lo lie kee? Huh luh luh huh lu lah? What? How do you find any thing in this blasted city!?” ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/66 "2011-03-12T22:05:08Z")
Sounds like that joke where somebody calls tech support for their computer… Tech: Okay, first thing is to click on the icon on the left side of your screen. Customer: Your left or my left? Okay, you’re going to think I’m making this up, but I lived in one town that had a North St. Not so uncommon, a normal enough name. And it ran north (and south) naturally enough. But it crossed Main St, which was the dividing line between the north and south side of the city. So north of Main St. it was simply North St. But south of Main St, it was South North St. (It’s on your left side. No, your OTHER left…) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953/67 "2011-03-13T11:09:28Z")
Just don’t ask for directions in Ireland. To be “helpful” Irish people often throw in some descriptors. e.g. “turn left at the yellow house, not the big yellow house, the other yellow house, that they painted green last year” or they’ll try and suss out where you do know, and base directions on that “go as if you’re going towards Fake St, and then turn as if you’re going towards Real St, and then go right” Also, all distances in rural Ireland are “on up the road a bit”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-ask-for-directions-give-complete-information/572953.md?page=3)