When Giving Directions...

[DustinG]

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also- truckers refer to all streets that aren't the highway as 'surface streets'. Have people heard that term before?

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wtf else would you call them

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idk. I've used the term for a while and am pretty far from a trucker, but one of my roommates had never heard it before.

Its certainly is an odd term though when you think about it literally.

[drzen]

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I think its called just 'light' because its actually short for stoplight. And stoplights certainly wouldn't make sense there.

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This is why this doesn't make sense in the UK: we don't turn at the stoplight. We stop.

And even so, there are still three lights where you turn, not just one.

There is only one intersection, and if you turn at the corner, you turn round that corner. You don't say "turn right at the corner" if you intend for the person to cross the road and then go round the corner.

[antidan444]

How about "U.S. 50" or "Rt. 50" or "Potomac Ave." or "Winter St." or whatever the actual road is called?

[DustinG]

they can't be side roads or streets because that term is already used to refer to roads within a city that aren't the main roads

i.e., 'i was pretty drunk last night so i took side streets to avoid the cops'

[chim17]

Why does there need to be a name?

You have:

Highways/Freeways
City Streets/Roads

[antidan444]

Let's say you have to go straight through a couple intersections before you make the turn. Does it go like "Go straight through four lights before turning left at the fifth lights"??? Or I guess the sentence just stops at "fifth" which kinda makes sense.

[drzen]

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Most people around my area just say "81" (for Interstate 81) or "70" (for I-70) for the two interstates. "Take 81 South to 70 East to ..."

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This is very standard.

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This would be comically illiterate here and in the UK.

"Take the M1 south" every time.

[antidan444]

Sorry I'm being really literal here WRT street names.

I say "back roads" or "side streets" most often (when there isn't a route number ... I religiously use the numbers though).

[chim17]

I cannot actually imagine a situation where I would use the term lights, when referring to only one intersection, without feeling really silly.

[DustinG]

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"Go straight through four sets of lights before turning left at the fifth set of lights"??? Or I guess the sentence just stops at "fifth" which kinda makes sense.

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