Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 09:04:45 -0600 From: Joan Livingston-Webber Subject: "the" 101 Maybe I'm reading too fast--I got pretty far behind in my mail. But, Alan, are you assuming that "the 101" is the most common form except in northern CA? I never heard highway numbers with "the" until the post on this list. (I never noticed in Grafton either, so I may, in fact, have heard it but didn't register.) I have lived for long periods in western PA, ND, IN, IL, and NE. I take 34 when I drive to Illinois from Nebraska or 80 when I go to Wisconsin. Isn't 101 a grand highway, one that might have accrued "the" the way a monument would? And would a grand highway be a kind of southern CA monument? As I read your messages, it sounds like you're assuming "101" has had a "the" deleted. But I don't delete a "the" when I'm taking 34 across Iowa. There's never been a "the" there. -- Joan Livingston-Webber webber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unomaha.edu "What gets better is the precision with which we vex each other." -Clifford Geertz