Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E, W

[Kenneth Brostrom]

As an old friend and native Detroiter pointed out to me some time 
ago, the East Side of Detroit is a basic grid, but the streets run 
from west southwest to east northeast, and from south southeast to 
north northwest.  The early French settlers came up with this scheme 
in order to have the former streets parallel the Detroit River. The 
Germans, however, developed the West Side, and there the street grid 
is true north-south and east-west.  Where the two sides meet in the 
middle is an often confusing muddle, a mute and lasting testament to 
cultural conflict, and a perfect place in which to get lost on a dark 
and stormy night.  I speak from unhappy experience. Coming from a 
Scando-Germanic background, whenever I leave the East Side, that zone 
of Gallic whimsicality, and enter the West Side with its Teutonic 
good sense, I heave a huge sigh of relief, and my well trained car 
with me.  And it is westward ho! back home to Ann Arbor.

Cheers,
Ken Brostrom


>The fact that Russians don't use compass directions has always been
>frustrating to me. Whenever I come out of a Moscow metro station that I have
>never seen before, my first instinct is to try and figure out where north
>is. If I know that, I can find almost anything. But alas, on a cloudy day or
>at night, with no sun for guidance, I know that no one I ask will be able to
>tell me where north is. Of course, in the northern part of the city, I can
>use Ostankino as a marker. But elsewhere it's hopeless. Maybe I should carry
>around a compass.
>
>Perhaps I'm atypical, even for an American. My wife is ready to divorce me
>every time I say something like "It's on the southeast corner of Wisconsin
>Avenue and Reservoir Road."
>
>-Rich Robin
>
>--
>Richard M. Robin
>Director Russian Language Program
>The George Washington University
>Washington, DC 20052
>202-994-7081
>
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