Minor, tiny rant for you newcomers and road names (San Antonio: hotel, house)

[love roses]

Gruene-Green
Boerne-Bernie
Elgin-with a hard G, not a j sound
Hutto-huh-to, not who-toe

I had a great Uncle who was from Kerrville, and he would read me the riot act if I pronounced any of those towns wrong! As for the pop/coke thing...I was just accustomed to describing what kind of "Coke" flavor..ex: "Could you get me a coke?' 'Yeah, what kind?' " Sprite, orange, etc.."
Although, Pepsi of course didn't count in that, or R.C for that matter. Root Beer did fall under the Coke category. But Pop sorta grew on me once I got to Houston. Ya'll have to understand that I grew up in a little bitty town (Brazoria, tx) from the time I was 4 until 16, so it's just one of those goofy Redneck things I haven't quite shaken, although I am totally not a redneck!!

[greystonefarm]

I get it.
I was just intrigued that Coke had become a description for carbonated beverage not just a brand.

My mom calls all tissue "kleenex" and all jeans are Levis.

Like she buys new "levis" at the Gap.

[texasdreamin]

When I moved to Cali from Indiana, it took a long while to get use to calling pop "soda". In Indiana, we called it "pop". Now, what should I call it when I get to Texas? Soda or Pop. Coke only means Coca Cola to me, so that's out.

I did have some confusion when I was there in November. I was pronouncing Leakey as "Leeky". I was corrected that it is pronounced Lakey. That, to me, was strange. I was taught that the "ea" together has a long "e" sound. None of it bothers me though. I never put "the" in front of street names or highways, but it wouldn't bother me if someone did. I know they call 405 "the 405". I just call it 405.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by TERRIE

call me crazy, but as i'm reading this i'm asking myself..." i thought austin was all about different cultures and personalities mixing it up in the melting pot"...hmm, i realize it's just a pet peeve...

Specifically, it's a pet peeve of ONE person. I've lived here since 1990 and I have never, ever heard anyone complain about how things are pronounced, other than to make fun of how locals say things like MAN-shack (Manchaca) or PurdunALice (Pedernales.)

But everyone mispronounces names everywhere. Think about the correct Spanish pronunciation of Los Angeles and compare it to how people actually SAY it. There's not much correlation.

My pet peeve about Austin isn't how people SAY the names, it's the NAMES. For example, the street and highway signs often provide only some kind of obscure number system. For example, Parmer Lane isn't shown as Parmer Lane on a lot of signs, it's some number (I have NO IDEA what it is, people call it PARMER!!!)

And then there's Highway 290. Good luck with that one. First, it exists both in north and south Austin, but it's called 290 West in South Austin and 290 East in North Austin. Second, when you're on 290 coming into town, the name changes on you every mile or so. Especially the one coming in from the east, it changes to Koenig, Allandale, RM 2222, Bull Creek and probably a few other names just in the span of a few miles, and not necessarily in the order I just listed. These are only examples. Good luck navigating the new interchanges. The one near my apartment, where Lamar intersects Westgate, 360, 71 and 290 West, is a freaking NIGHTMARE. I mean, I LIVE here and I cannot navigate the thing to save my life!

[schoenfraun]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

My pet peeve about Austin isn't how people SAY the names, it's the NAMES. For example, the street and highway signs often provide only some kind of obscure number system. For example, Parmer Lane isn't shown as Parmer Lane on a lot of signs, it's some number (I have NO IDEA what it is, people call it PARMER!!!)

And then there's Highway 290. Good luck with that one. First, it exists both in north and south Austin, but it's called 290 West in South Austin and 290 East in North Austin. Second, when you're on 290 coming into town, the name changes on you every mile or so. Especially the one coming in from the east, it changes to Koenig, Allandale, RM 2222, Bull Creek and probably a few other names just in the span of a few miles, and not necessarily in the order I just listed. These are only examples. Good luck navigating the new interchanges. The one near my apartment, where Lamar intersects Westgate, 360, 71 and 290 West, is a freaking NIGHTMARE. I mean, I LIVE here and I cannot navigate the thing to save my life!

See, this is what freaked me out when I was there last week; I'll be moving there next month.

I was supposed to meet some folks at a Mexican restaurant in a crazy, can't-miss-it orange building called Los Jalicientes (tasty!!) off of 290 or the frontage road or whatever it really is...And my husband and I drove around and around for at least ten minutes, trying to find the correct turn-off, when we had only just seen it, or just passed it. Right, make another right, and then another right, and then suddenly we were actually on the OTHER side of the highway, in the opposite direction... We didn't know what the hell we were doing.

But I understand that the frontage roads are a way of life in the big cities in Texas, not just Austin. So I'll have to learn them.... above, below, alongside...whatever

As to the first part of the quote, the names/numbers: this is what I was talking about in my first post on this thread, Airport is 111. We were given a rather simple, but very helpful, map from the car rental place and were driving into town when we saw the traffic on 35 and decided to take Airport (Road? Highway? Blvd.? and it's not "the" Airport [Road, etc.]). So we're happily driving along until we were presented with a choice we did not anticipate: go on 111 or veer off on to 7th. We didn't know what we wanted, as 111 did not appear on our map. So we went to 7th, and had to figure things out from there. Not so good. (But not so bad, really.)

So at Los Jalicientes (the next day) I was telling our friends, who have lived there 12 years, about our Airport/111 confusion, and they said they didn't know it was 111, either!

I'm sure we're in for a lot of confusion.... But that's what the world is today. Hey, hey.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by schoenfraun

See, this is what freaked me out when I was there last week; I'll be moving there next month.

....So at Los Jalicientes (the next day) I was telling our friends, who have lived there 12 years, about our Airport/111 confusion, and they said they didn't know it was 111, either!

Your post is hilarious and I'm sure most people, even those who were BORN in Austin, can relate to much of what you said. I've never freaking heard of 111

So that's Airport Blvd., eh? OK, then... whatever they say. Nice of them to spring that on you when you're approaching a dangerous intersection of several different roads that crunch together onto a narrow bridge.

The "frontage roads" (are you from California too?) are called "access roads" here. Most locals won't know what you're talking about if you call them "frontage." And yes, TXDOT is in love with them and they are one of the worst things about driving in Texas. When you take a freeway exit here, you don't have the relaxing California-style experience of pulling up to a traffic light. You're merging into several lanes of heavy traffic where people can be doing 60 and everyone is trying to change lanes in different directions. In many cases you have to careen across about 4 lanes from the exit to the right-turn you're trying to make a few hundred yards ahead while avoiding the people who are coming at you from other lanes. It's completely insane. It also promotes ugly sprawl along all the urban freeways, unlike the relatively gorgeous Ventura Freeway in Los Angeles with its lush landscaping.

Oh well... it's Texas.

[Daisey31]

What I do dearly love is what my husband and I call 'whoopdeedo's' in Austin. An example would be getting off 183 at 360. You can stay in the left lane and whoopdeedo around to the opposite direction without having to wait for a light. Very cool. I LOVED all the roundabouts in France too. I think roundabouts should be mandatory everywhere. It makes traffic flow so well.

[schoenfraun]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

The "frontage roads" (are you from California too?) are called "access roads" here.

No, I grew up in Chicago, as I had hinted in my first post on this thread. I learned all about the Edens, the Dan Ryan, the Eisenhower, the Skyway, etc., as a small child, but also retained the language of plain ol' 94, 290, 55, etc. No "the" allowed.

In Chicago we generally use the term "frontage road" to mean "access road," but they are NOTHING like these access roads we experienced in Austin last week. Freakin' frightenin'. Their design is an abomination. I cannot imagine where TXDOT gets its highway engineers. What school teaches that technique? It's CRAZY!

And, as I said, I'm going to have to get used to this access road lifestyle, because I'll be doing a lot of driving in Texas as part of my new job.

Oy.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

I kind of like the access roads in Austin! Am I the only one?? I always referred to them as "feeder lanes"...I stand corrected!! Coming from Pittsburgh, PA. where you have to navigate all the one way streets to find your way in/out of town is a nightmare.

[gigi927]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I started wondering, regional differences and vernacular aside, what would the proper use of English dictate. Just for fun I asked the question at answerbag.com and here are some of the answers ...

I hardly consider anywhere in Texas a bastion of proper English. No offense to Texans, it's just that they have their own vernacular and culture and most of it does not respect traditional grammatical or other rules of pronunciation.

Who CARES, really????????????????????????? Can't we all just get back to eating BBQ and discussing the relative danger of scorpions? Seriously. This thread is so not indicative of the welcoming nature of most Austinites I've encountered.