# What's the difference between a street, a road, an avenue, a boulevard, etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 7, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999 "2014-11-07T17:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Ehrlich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/958977/32.png) [@David\_Ehrlich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Ehrlich)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/1 "2014-11-07T17:49:03Z")
Significantly, you left out Yard, as in Scotland Yard. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/2 "2014-11-08T04:41:45Z")
I’ve never encountered a “Yard” in the USA. (I can’t recall a “Close”, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/3 "2014-11-08T05:36:22Z")
The column referred to is [What’s the difference between a street, a road, an avenue, a boulevard, etc.?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1319/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc), dated April 23, 1999. And I agree with **John W. Kennedy** : “Yard” is, at best, very rare. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/4 "2014-11-08T06:44:33Z")
> [@David\_Ehrlich](#): > > Significantly, you left out Yard, as in Scotland Yard. > [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > I’ve never encountered a “Yard” in the USA. Right. I’ve never encountered a “Mews” either, but so what? Why is it “significant” to the OP that _Yard_ was left out? The article says, [QUOTE=Cecil] The possibilities include _ **but are not limited to** _ . . . [/quote] I think the real issue I’d take with the article is the final paragraph, which implies a rather naive hope that this policy of the USPS can somehow help the matter. The damage is done. As an ex-taxi driver I can attest that, in Los Angeles, like Chicago, this is too little, too late. It goes as a matter of course that you always _must_ have the suffix of the street name for the address to be certain. South Central is laced with _Places_ that run parallel to to _Streets_, with an occasional _Drive_ thrown in. ([Look at the case of 41st – 41st Street, 41st Drive, and 41st Place](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Los+Angeles,+CA+90062/@34.0090255,-118.3138248,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2b7f7d3a540ab:0xb88a6c1bab60acbc?hl=en). Can you imagine the headaches for the carriers in this neighborhood, with the inevitably large amount of mis-addressed mail?) ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/5 "2014-11-08T06:45:29Z")
[Here](http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/streetsuffix) is a list US street suffixes, 146 of them, in the form of a Sporcle quiz. No Yard. ---
**Author:** ![eastcheap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eastcheap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastcheap)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/6 "2014-11-08T13:28:31Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > I’ve never encountered a “Yard” in the USA. (I can’t recall a “Close”, either.) Plenty of circles, though. Officially, I think New Scotland Yard has a Broadway address, but I’m sure if you put “Scotland Yard” on an envelope, it will go to the right place. Likewise, I don’t think we have much in the way of “houses” either, but lots of “places” and “centers” (or “centres”). ---
**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:** [November 8, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/7 "2014-11-08T17:06:58Z")
> [@eastcheap](#): > > Plenty of circles, though. Officially, I think New Scotland Yard has a Broadway address, but I’m sure if you put “Scotland Yard” on an envelope, it will go to the right place. New Scotland Yard, 8-10 Broadway, London SW1H 0BG, United Kingdom I’ve giving it my regards. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/8 "2014-11-08T17:34:08Z")
To answer part of the question, a boulevard should have some sort of median/island/strip running down the middle, _a la_ Park Avenue in New York. The word “boulevard” is cognate with “bulwark” and is also a synonym for the median/island/strip itself. Btw, there are some mews (mewses)? in New York City. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/9 "2014-11-08T18:08:26Z")
> [@eastcheap](#): > > Plenty of circles, though. Officially, I think New Scotland Yard has a Broadway address, but I’m sure if you put “Scotland Yard” on an envelope, it will go to the right place. Scotland Yard took the name with it when it moved, so Scotland Yard (the building and institution) isn’t actually in Scotland Yard anymore. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/10 "2014-11-08T23:09:17Z")
> [@blue\_infinity](#): > > [Here](http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/streetsuffix) is a list US street suffixes, 146 of them, in the form of a Sporcle quiz. > > No Yard. It doesn’t have Camino, either, but there are, in fact, some of those. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/11 "2014-11-09T02:58:51Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > To answer part of the question, a boulevard should have some sort of median/island/strip running down the middle, _a la_ Park Avenue in New York. The word “boulevard” is cognate with “bulwark” and is also a synonym for the median/island/strip itself. Although that was often the intention, originally, there are certainly boulevards without medians. There are no rules and nobody to enforce them. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/12 "2014-11-09T21:32:02Z")
> [@blue\_infinity](#): > > [Here](http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/streetsuffix) is a list US street suffixes, 146 of them, in the form of a Sporcle quiz. “Stravenue”? Really? > [@guizot](#): > > It doesn’t have Camino, either, but there are, in fact, some of those. Yeah, I suspect the Spanish word order throws them off that it is a “suffix”. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/13 "2014-11-09T22:15:05Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > Btw, there are some mews (mewses)? in New York City. Mewsen. Many moose, moosen. 😃 Obscure reference, there. Don’t know if (m)any will catch it. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/14 "2014-11-10T05:14:20Z")
In Eugene Oregon, the numbered streets run East-West and they are called 1st Ave, 2nd Ave, 3rd Ave, et cetera. In Springfield Oreong (the next town over), the numbered streets run North-South and they are called 1st St, 2nd St, 3rd St, 4th St, et cetera. So if someone says “7th Avenue” you assume they mean Eugene but if they say “7th Street” you assume they mean Springfield. But if it has a name rather than a number, like “Elm Street”, you have no idea whether it’s East-West or North-South. Unfortunately, There are plenty of cases in Eugene where two different streets have the same name but different suffixes. For example, there’s a West 13th Avenue, East 13th Avenue, East 13th Alley, and West 13th Place. There’s even a spot where W 28th Ave and W 28th Place intersect each other. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/15 "2014-11-11T05:10:13Z")
I’m surprised no one mentioned the Rego Park area in Queens. The streets go Drive, Road, Avenue as in 63rd Drive, 63rd Road, 63rd Avenue, 64th Drvie, 64th Road, 64th Avenue, etc. of course “Streets” go sort of perpendicular. Then, there are areas where “Lanes” come in between “Streets”. Just North of the intersection of Rust Street and Grand Avenue in Queens is a block surrounded by 58th Road, 58th Place, 58th Street, and 58th Avenue. Even better, they’re all one way streets that circle the block. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/16 "2014-11-11T13:35:09Z")
Yet on property maps I discovered what I thought were streets, because that is what the signs say, are in actuality alleys. ---
**Author:** ![Anthony\_Kaye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anthony\_Kaye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anthony_Kaye)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/17 "2014-11-11T15:20:10Z")
Road. Originally built for traffic, then housing built along it-but still called a road. Street. Built specifically for housing. Avenue. A tree-lined street. Boulevard. Originally French. Broad and straight, to give plenty of room for pedestrians (boulevardiers) and carriages. Ideal for picking up prostitutes. Crescent. Does what it says on the tin. Drive. Usually a short straight cul-de-sac. Close. An area of housing, usually quite leafy, with a short drive leading to it. Only one way in and out. Mews. In the middle ages built as housing for falcons. Then turned into garages for carriages. Now ludicrously expensive bijou residences in the posher parts of London. Uncommon elsewhere. Plural mews. Yard. An open area for carriages,wagons etc enclosed by buildings. Scotland Yard moved out of one over a hundred years ago, but kept the name. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/18 "2014-11-11T21:32:20Z")
Woodhaven also has a mad arrangement like Rego Park. In the US, a “Drive” is likely to be broad, long, and (usually) straight, and relatively deluxe. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/19 "2014-11-11T22:26:47Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > In Eugene Oregon, the numbered streets run East-West and they are called 1st Ave, 2nd Ave, 3rd Ave, et cetera. In Springfield Oreong (the next town over), the numbered streets run North-South and they are called 1st St, 2nd St, 3rd St, 4th St, et cetera. So if someone says “7th Avenue” you assume they mean Eugene but if they say “7th Street” you assume they mean Springfield. But if it has a name rather than a number, like “Elm Street”, you have no idea whether it’s East-West or North-South. > > Unfortunately, There are plenty of cases in Eugene where two different streets have the same name but different suffixes. For example, there’s a West 13th Avenue, East 13th Avenue, East 13th Alley, and West 13th Place. There’s even a spot where W 28th Ave and W 28th Place intersect each other. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the numbered avenues run north-south and the numbered streets run east-west. Nearly ALL the streets and avenues are numbered. :smack: With high or low numbers, a street avenue screwup can land you on completely the wrong side of town. I imagine USPS gets by on zip codes. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999/20 "2014-11-11T23:11:53Z")
> [@Anthony\_Kaye](#): > > [snip]Boulevard. Originally French. Broad and straight, to give plenty of room for pedestrians (boulevardiers) and carriages. Ideal for picking up prostitutes. Dunno 'bout walkers (street- or other), but you’ve grabbed only the middle history of the etymology of that word. Going farther back, it comes from Middle German “bolwerc”, a rampart or other fortification wall. The original boulevards were apparently laid out at the perimeter of a formerly fortified city after demolishing the technologically outdated walls: > [@Online Etymology Dictionary](#): > > 1769, from French boulevard (15c.), originally “top surface of a military rampart,” from a garbled attempt to adopt Middle Dutch bolwerc “wall of a fortification” (see [bulwark](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bulwark&allowed_in_frame=0)) into French, which at that time lacked a -w- in its alphabet. The notion is of a promenade laid out atop demolished city walls, a way which would be much wider than urban streets. Originally in English with conscious echoes of Paris; since 1929, in U.S., used of multi-lane limited-access urban highways. Early French attempts to digest the Dutch word also include boloart, boulever, boloirque, bollvercq. From [boulevard | Etymology of boulevard by etymonline](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boulevard&allowed_in_frame=0) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-street-a-road-an-avenue-a-boulevard-etc/703999.md?page=2)