Survivor_08 t1_j8roprg wrote on February 16, 2023 at 1:58 PM

Reply to comment by f0rtytw0 in What’s your funniest story about Boston drivers? by [deleted]

Interesting linguistically. In some regions of some states, that’s the norm (eg. “The 95”) while in other areas of the state, they say the full name of the highway. I’ve never been corrected at any job I’ve worked at since moving here, only snarky comments on Reddit lol

Pinwurm t1_j8ryj09 wrote on February 16, 2023 at 3:09 PM

No “the”. It outs you as a West Coaster.

If it’s a route, say “route + number”.
“I’m on Route 1”. Or “We need to take Route 9 home”

If it’s a highway, just the number.
“I fucking hate taking 93”. Or “Damn, 95 sucks today”.

If its I-90, you say “the Pike” or “the Mass Pike”. Short for Massachusetts Turnpike, which is never said in full. “Look, I’m on the pike right now. Lotta Staties out today, so maybe an extra 10 minutes”. It’s the only highway with a special name and has a “the”.

Once you leave Massachusetts, the Pike is back to “I-90” or just “90” in Upstate NY. Still no “the”. And a lot of folks on the Berkshires will say that version too if they travel back and forth to NYS frequently.

Commonwealth Avenue always “Comm Ave”.
Massachusetts Avenue is always “Mass Ave”.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts is often shortened to “Comm of Mass” or “The State” if you’re ever dealing with taxes or whatnot.

You get it.

Electrical_Media_367 t1_j8sfnyh wrote on February 16, 2023 at 5:02 PM

Technically, I-90 in NY is "the Thruway" all the way from the Mass line to Buffalo. this side of Albany it's the "New England extension of the NYS Thruway." I-87 is also the Thruway down to NYC, and The Northway north of Albany. The L made by I-87 and I-90 and from NYC to Buffalo is all the Thruway and it's one continuous toll road. New Yorkers typically call it The Thruway instead of calling it I-90/I-87. No one calls it "The 90" or "The 87", though.

Pinwurm t1_j8snckz wrote on February 16, 2023 at 5:51 PM

I grew up in Albany. It's at the intersection of 87 and 90, so having two roads called 'The Thruway' would've been confusing.

Northway as 87 was super common, but I feel like I heard it on morning traffic reports more often than I did when talking to people.
Thruway as 90 was way less common for me. Probably different if you live significantly outside of Albany.

Electrical_Media_367 t1_j8s0mus wrote on February 16, 2023 at 3:24 PM

I've lived here 20 years and I've never heard anyone, at any point, call it "The 95." It's "95", "I-95", or "128."

The reason that highways in CA are prefixed with "The" is because they all had names before the interstate highway system gave them numbers. so, it's called "the 5" because it used to be called "The Golden State freeway" and "the San Diego Freeway". That would hold in MA for our named road, The Mass Pike, but here the article doesn't transfer to the number, so if you say "The 90" people will look at you like you just fell off the turnip truck.