"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
On 1/21/2011 5:43 PM Arfa Daily spake thus:

He was in sunny Caffy-lornia ... Costa Mesa in Orange County, a few
miles down the Interstate from LA

OK, Arf, a small lesson in regional US dialects, free of charge:

Nobody here in "Cal-ee-fonia", as our recently departed
Governator/Gropenator called it, calls them "interstates", even though
they are, in fact, interstate highways. Some folks back east may call them
that, though I'm not sure (I've heard them referred to as "turnpikes" in
some places). One wonders whether some LA residents even know what an
"interstate" is ...

In any case, just in case you actually visit Caleefonia sometime in the
near future, you should also be aware of an important difference in usage
between SoCal (basically El-Lay and environs) and NoCal (San Francisco and
thereabouts). Down there, they don't use *any* noun for a road (highway,
interstate, etc.), but they do use articles with the road number, as in
"the 405", "the 101", etc.

But bewa up here in the Beige Area, where we like to think we're so
much superior to our SoCal cousins, we never use the article, saying
instead "take 80 to get to Berkeley" or "take 101 to 280 to 17 to get down
to Santa Cruz". (One can easily spot newcomers to San Francisco who refer
to "the 80" or "the 101". That's just SO wrong!)


--

Thank you for that enlightening dissertation ! However, as you say, it's not
actually *wrong* to call them Interstates - for that is what they are, as
evidenced by their designation "I" xxx - just 'not quite right' in your neck
of the woods. It's been a while since I was last in California, but I'm sure
I recall the I5 being referred to as 'The Interstate' by the guys in the
factory that I used to visit. Maybe in 20 years, or whatever it is now, the
usage of the term has changed. I could be wrong, but I thought that the big
road running just to the west of the Las Vegas strip was referred to locally
as 'The Interstate' or 'The Freeway', likewise the I75 and I95 in Florida,
although I have seen this term 'turnpike' over the that side of the country.
Perhaps Michael can enlighten us on the usage of the words over there in
'gator country ... ?

Arfa