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The I-93
By adamg on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 9:23am
Sam Baltrusis posts a copy of the trailer for the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz movie, which features some cool mayhem on local highways, and includes shots of Diaz talking about her escapades on "the I-93" and Tom Cruise wearing the worst imitation of a Sox hat ever (guys, you're not in California, anymore).
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The 405
In Los Angeles, people talk about their interstate highways this way -- "the 405", "the 210", and so on.
Did somebody mention the 405?
Yeah, I know how definite Californians are about their roads. Just sounded weird to hear it applied here. But thanks for giving me an excuse to post this:
Does she say "the I-93?"
Does she say "the I-93?" That would be especially odd, since nobody in California would say that, just as nobody here would say that. The CA version is either "the 93," or "I-93," but never a mixing of the two prefixes. The interesting thing about this, is how to my ex-CA ears, "the five," or "the 110" still sounds right to me, but I cringe every time I here my mom say "the 128."
Yep!
"Next thing you know, I'm in Grand Theft Auto on the I-93."
No explanation is sufficient,
No explanation is sufficient, then. She's created her own terminology.
It all started...
...with freaking Drew Barrymore and Jimmy ##$%@!@ Fallon. *shakes fist*
Dear rest of the country: no, you CAN'T do a convincing Boston accent, and no, you DON'T get what we're actually like here. Come make movies in Massachusetts, sure, just not ABOUT Massachusetts.
Yep
I ride herd on air pollution researchers and they point these out on their maps or in presentations as "the" 405, etc. West Coast folk also say "highway" instead of "route" for non-interstates.
The guys doing research on traffic exposures in Somerville will tend to say things like "along here we have Interstate 93" ... not even "I" 93, and "Route 28" when presenting to out-of-area audiences. In area it tends to be just "93" or "28".
When in places like Ireland or Mexico City the Californians stick with their systems because they tend to be fully descriptive, while the Somervillians will get more descriptive because the exposure differences between State Route 28 and Interstate 93 matter and their audience won't know which is which otherwise.
Speaking of West Coast Road Terminology
Swirl and the gang,
This is something that has got me- what we around here call highways or perhaps expressways (always a subset of highways to me) my West Coast wife (who lives kind of off of "I-5") calls Freeways- even if there is a toll on it! I have been looking into this a bit to see where the freeway/expressway line is. Thoughts?
I say they are not free, but then again in LA that are probably not too express-y.
Curious.
Ya got me
My Weymouth-native husband and myself have been trying to sort this for years. My dad the Oregon Highwayman can't help, since Oregon has rejected tolls for decades as being too costly to implement and adminster compared to the revenue they generate.
What I grew up with was "Freeway" = "limited access multi-lane high speed roadway", "highway" as designated numbered US, state, or county road. It may be that California made certain "freeways" un-free at some point, when they were originally non-toll roads?
Freeway
In Washington, all the limited access multi-lane roads are "the freeway." I-5, 405 (usually no "I"), I-90, etc. They're also all free, as in, tollless, though they of course cost something to build and maintain. State routes are "highway" as in "highway 2" and "highway 99."
But what about ...
...The highway to Puyallup? That highway is called a freeway, too, no? And when the toll booths go up on I-90 to fund bridge repair? That won't be too free, but then again as that section is partially in a tunnel, it ain't too high, either.
I have found a city that calls one road the so-and-so Expressway and another one the such-and-such Freeway, and that messes me up to no end.
Puyallup
Could somebody get them to change their name to Pullallup or Puyayup so it could be palindromic? Please?
I think the "free" is free
I think the "free" is free from intersections.
The I-93?
The 93 is the bus between Charlestown and Downtown, but what's the I for?! I remember explaining to someone in California once that when some precedes a number with "the" in Boston, it usually refers to a bus route...
Well yeah
Cameron Diaz's character does seem like the sort of person who'd call the Southeast Expressway the I-93. And of course Tom Cruise is wearing a shitty knockoff Red Sox hat, he's really a secret agent!
Also, the CAPTCHA question I got was "What is the second word in the phrase 'lan xenu aze bufezom lenexi'?" IT ALL MAKES SENSE.
Get out!
Really? I didn't realize the captcha module I'm using was so sophisticated!
never heard of the I-93
Maybe she means the Central Artery.
The I 93?
Awesome, that gives me a Super Bingo!
That's the damn movie
that screwed up my commute out of the I90 tunnel to South boston waterfront over and over again.
Not a california thing
It's actually JUST a southern california thing.
Those in the north would *never* say "the x". It's "take 101 south". In LA, they say "take the 101 north"