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#49433 05/10/02 10:50 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
In reply to:

but i think that is because the High Road-- (or more common High Street) is the UK (but not scotish) equiviant of Main street


No, of troy. High road and high street are two very different things. The high street is, as you say, the generic equivalent of the USn Main Street. The high road is a long distance road -- think Tolkein's The Road Goes Ever On.

Traditionally to be a street, a thoroughfare had to have buildings on both sides, but that distinction is sadly declining. Oxford Street is a main shopping street in London, but when it leaves the city it used to be called the Oxford Road, until by bureaucratic whim it became the A40.

Bingley



Bingley
#49434 05/10/02 03:38 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
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Carpal Tunnel
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Ah, Bingley, you wrote:

Traditionally to be a street, a thoroughfare had to have buildings on both sides, but that distinction is sadly declining. Oxford Street is a main shopping street in London, but when it leaves the city it used to be called the Oxford Road, until by bureaucratic whim it became the A40.

...

and it's just this kind of distinction that makes language so exciting and truly helpful. I regret that these kinds of distinctions die out for whatever reasons. They would do much good to those of us who have no sense of direction. If I were looking for Oak Street and were driving around on a road with buildings on one side, I'd have a most excellent clue that I wasn't in the right place!

Some good things do go by the wayside. Wonder what exactly was a wayside, come to think of it??

Best regards,
WanderingWonderer


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