[lbo-talk] Rise of Nasty Right

[joseph noonan]

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
>
>
> Hadn't thought of that before.  When I'm in Los Angeles I say "the 10" but if 
> I take the same road out of town I would say I-10.
>
> Here's two guesses.  One, when you use the name you use the article so "The 
> Harbor Freeway" becomes "The 110."  Or, if you're talking about going across 
> town by freeway you would say "I'm taking the freeway," as opposed to surface 
> streets.  So "the freeway" becomes "the 10."

I don't think that's it.  I live in Houston about 2 miles from I-10.  On 
the west side of downtown I-10 is known as "The Katy freeway" (cuz it goes 
to Katy, duh) or just "The Katy".  I'll call it "The Katy" or I-10 (or 
perhaps, I-10 west), but never "The I-10".

I-610 makes a complete loop around the core of Houston and is an informal 
demarcation of 'city' vs. 'suburb' in Houston (although the city limits 
stretch far beyond The Loop).  People here will call it "The Loop" or 610, 
but never "The 610".  We have The Hardy, The Beltway, The Sam Houston, The 
Pierce Elevated, The LaPorte, The Southwest, The Katy, but we do not have 
The 610, The 290, The 59, or The 10 -- we have just 10, 59, 45, 290, 288.

No, this is a SoCal thang (not just LA).  I spend about a week per month 
working in Sandy Eggo and they call I-5 "The 5" and I-15 "The 15 and my 
family in Orange Co. do as well.

This still goes nowhere in answering my query about The Cancer :-).

-j