Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: whereabouts

Scusatemi, qualcuno sa dirmi se c'è un'espressione d'uso comune per
chiedere a qualcuno che abita in una grande città in America a che
altezza si trova la sua casa nel caso si tratti di una strada
particolarmente lunga?
Se abiti a broadway come fai a chiedere a che altezza sta? Fanno
riferimento all'incrocio più vicino?
grazie,
clemma

riferimento all'incrocio più vicino?
Sì. Non so come funzioni in altre città, ma a NYC - Manhattan - si
usano gli incroci. Tanto le street sono numerate (non nella parte
vecchia, a sud, ovvero Downtown, che ha poche street numerate, dalla 1
alla 14, e poi è random come le città europee). E poi si usa west e
east, a seconda che il numero civico sia ad est o ad ovest della fifth
avenue.
Il mio indirizzo era 355w 55th street, tra la 8th av e la 9av.
I numeri delle avenue partono da sud.
I numeri delle avenue partono dalla 5th avenue, aumentando verso ovest
e verso est. Quindi 355 55th street sono due indirizzi, uno west
l'altro east.
C'è anche un sistema di calcolo.
www.nyrevels.org/streetfinder.html
^_^
Sebastiano


grazie, sei stato molto gentile!
clemma

grazie,
You wouldn't use the word "whereabouts".  That's too general.  You would say:
"what the closest corss street?"
bye
ari

 
Whereupon you'd be arrested for drunken driving.
-- 
Mary

, Mary Cassidy wrote...

LOL.
I've noticed since moving to New York that people almost never ask for 
directions. Think of it: for most of the city the streets are numbered 
(steets go east-west) and Avenues are numbered (north-south) [come ha 
detto Sebapop] and so, here we are at 79th and Broadway. Who is going to 
ask where 80th is? It's pretty easy to figure out.
When taking a cab, you tell the driver "79th and Broadway, northeast (or 
whichever) corner.
When I lived in the Village it was a bit different; as Seba pointed out, 
downtown the streets are named, mostly, and one must know where they are.
There's a "famous" intersection of West 4th Street and West 10th Street 
(which, theoretically, should never happen, because streets run parallel, 
east and west. The Village is, in many ways, an anomaly, it so happens 
that West 4th runs west to Seventh Avenue, then jogs to the north, and 
crosses a whole bunch of the other numbered cross streets.
(Having just had another Martini, I almost wrote "corss" streets.)
-- 
I am Joey's Cat
Un-not my address, too, if you wanna reply.

 (Having just had another Martini, I almost wrote "corss" streets.)
You'll eventually get a ticket for drinking and newsgroupping.
-- 
Giovanni Bajo



LOL
-- 
              O      __
      ___   /\     / / O  
     /__ \   | \   /  |
    O  /  \ /   \./   |       Loki
        |________ |
 

 (Having just had another Martini, I almost wrote "corss" streets.)
You'd hate our street. My neighbour (attached flat even) is 611, mine
is 701. I've been told it's because somewhere in the town is a street
that if it continued would pass between. (It must be 2" wide then)


> "what the closest corss street?"
My typing has fallen sloppy dead.  Maybe I was drunk...who knows!
bye
ari

 ask where 80th is? It's pretty easy to figure out.
Suppose you come out from an Underground station and you have no
well-known visual evidences at sight to tell which is North and South
and which is East and West. In that rare case, although you sure know
where you are, you cannot tell where 80th [or any other street] is,
unless you walk a block and establish which direction is which :-)
-- 
(T)EFL online communities
http://groups.msn.com/TEFL

 ask where 80th is? It's pretty easy to figure out.
Suppose you come out from an Underground station and you have no
well-known visual evidences at sight to tell North from South
or East from West. In that rare case, although you sure know


 
Good point! And when I first moved here, I had to do that on occasion. (I 
would *never* ask directions? Whaddaya think I am, a *tourist*??) and so 
I had to walk a block to see which way I was going.
But gradually I learned that, if I emerge from the subway ("Underground" 
is British) at, say, Lexington and 53rd, and the traffic on Lex is going 
to my left, I know that's downtown, ergo, the street numbers descend in 
that direction (and I'm clever enough to know they ascend in the opposite 
direction. :)
Knowing which way the Avenues/Streets go, you can almost subconsiously 
orient yourself quickly. Odd avenues go downtown, even go up; odd streets 
go west, even go east. You have to learn the named avenues, but it's 
not hard. Also, when the sun is shining, it's easy to determine east from 
west, and thereby, north from south.
(It's the near-*un*conscious moments, say, emerging from a *bar* at 
Lexington and 53rd at 3 AM, that I have my problems now. :)


 
Having said all that, I have to stand corrected (by myself) yet again. 
Odd avenues "on the West Side" go downtown, even go up. On the East Side, 
odd avenues go uptown, even go down.
It seemed like too much to inject into a treatise on "how easy" it is to 
orient yourself in this city. After a few years, though, (weeks, for me) 
it all sinks in. :)
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