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When someone says "the" before the number of a highway - its a giveaway they're from California. Here in Louisiana we just say "I-10" or "I-12" same with most of the country but Californians will say "THE I-10" or "THE I-12". Not sure what the point of that is. After all you drive down Fifth Avenue not THE Fifth Avenue or THE Main Street.
Californians also like to say "freeway" when we just say highway or Interstate.
My Garmin GPS has "trip options" you can set to customize your route, such as "Avoid toll roads". One of the settings is "Avoid highways", which puzzled me at first. How do I drive anywhere out of the city by avoiding highways? Fly? Take a train? After a while I figured out they were using the term "highway" to mean Interstates. Apparently, Magellan never heard of two lane highways! But now you've got me thinking it's a regional thing!
No no, it's "the 10," not "the I-10." Californians don't usually refer to freeways as "Interstates" in the first place (many freeways are not interstates, and highways are something else altogether), let alone abbreviate Interstate to "I."
But you are correct that, in Southern California at least, we use "the" with the number of the freeway. Supposedly it is a holdover from the days in which freeways were referred to by name rather than number: the Golden State freeway, the Harbor freeway, etc.
Chicago radio traffic reporters call the expressways by their first name, too. For example, the Dan Ryan Expressway is "The Dan Ryan" and the Kennedy Expressway is "The Kennedy". Here in the Twin Cities none of freeways have names and the few that did are no longer referred to by name. All freeways are called by number regardless of Interstate status. So, for example, I-94 is just "94", US 169 is just "169" and MN 62 (formerly called "The Crosstown") is just 62.
So that's what a tree lawn is. I moved to Cleveland a few years ago and had never heard that expression before. I lived in Chicago where we called that the "parkway" and Portland, OR where it was just the curbside.
In the PNW something expensive was "spendy." I don't here that here. Further downstate from Chicago a cake made from a box like Betty Crocker was a "Box Cake. " In Chicago it was a "Cake Mix."
Twin Cities: Tree lawn = "boulevard", also "spendy" is used here (never heard it til I came here). And it's always "cake mix".
My mom (native of Upstate NY) used "couch" and "davenport" interchangeably. Down the street, my friend's family (from Michigan) always called it a "sofa".
I've noticed that people in the Midwest say "sack lunches" where people in the East say "bagged lunches."
In Iowa, many people use the word "sack" to mean bag. Grocery store baggers are called "sackers". Once in a covienience store I heard a man offer to buy his little boy a "sack of M&Ms".
I'm late to the party and too many pages to read to see if this has been said. Dadgum! Heard my father say it first. I never heard the word used in TV or the radio. It's a southern thang.
I had a roommate in college from Norfolk, VA. He used the word "reckon" a lot, much the way movie cowboys and the sheriff of Mayberry do.
Me: "I might go out for a beer after I finish studying." Him: "Ya reckon?"
Him: "I reckon I'll ace my philosophy essay".
Him: "Reckon it's gonna rain, better bring your UMbrella with you."
PS: thanks for indulging me my so many posts in a row. This thread really got me going!
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After a while I figured out they were using the term "highway" to mean Interstates. Apparently, Magellan never heard of two lane highways! But now you've got me thinking it's a regional thing!
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