Hacker News Reader

Huh, I'm not a Californian by any means, but now that I think about it I say "the 217", "the 26", etc. Have I been corrupted by Californians that have moved to Oregon?

View on HN

Yes - we do not say that in Oregon.

Right: "I drove out 26 to John Day to fill my elk tag".

Wrong: "I drove down the 5 to that new Sushi-Yoga place".

Here's an article that purports to explain why:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/the-5-the-101-the-405-why...

And yes, it's definitely a Southern California/LA thing.

i doesn't ask "why add _the_" far enough: "The freeway through the Cahuenga Pass thus became the Cahuenga Pass Freeway, and Angelenos knew the freeway to San Bernardino as the San Bernardino Freeway."

i would have said "the freeway through Cahuenga Pass."

"26" is pronounced "Sunset", btw. (edit: west of the Willamette, I mean.)

Yeah, it's the sunset highway, but I rarely hear anyone call it that (I've lived in Beaverton for 2 decades).

Here in SoCal, google maps is amazing at always picking exactly the opposite of name/vs number from what locals use for reading out directions (I didn't know X road even had a number, why are they calling the 192 Y road?).

It seems the rule where I am is "always show the number" which means indeed they've very good at picking the opposite.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com