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

[John Dunn]

I would go further than some members of the list and suggest that even in those British cities (such as Glasgow) that are, at least in part, built on a North-South/East-West grid it would be thought not so much strange as deliberately unhelpful to attempt to give street directions in terms of points of the compass (and it is generally considered advisable not to appear deliberately unhelpful when giving street directions in Glasgow).

And thinking about Rostov-on-Don, which is also largely built on a similar grid pattern, reminds me that while London taxi-drivers notoriously never go south of the river and Glaswegians may live on the South Side [of the Clyde], Russian rivers tend to have a left and a right bank.

I am not sure that all users of the London Underground find the Northbound etc. descriptions totally helpful.  Those other European underground systems that I know of use a combination of line number (not used in London) and termini, perhaps because the individual lines tend not to follow compass directions in any meaningful way.  As for the motorway sign 'The North', I find this unsatisfactory, as it implies a vast unmapped area inhabited by dragons and other strange creatures (which I suppose is what it is to most Londoners).  I think that in Europe we prefer greater precision - except perhaps for the famously helpful French road sign that simply says 'Toutes directions'.

John Dunn.

Honorary Research Fellow
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow

Via Carolina Coronedi Berti, 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
John.Dunn at glasgow.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of H.P. Houtzagers [h.p.houtzagers at RUG.NL]
Sent: 03 September 2010 16:00
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E and W

The same holds for Dutch: it is exceptional to hear someone saying "at
point so-and-so turn east".

Peter Houtzagers

Simon Beattie wrote:
> I don't think that here in Britain we would naturally give directions using
> points of the compass (although people might use compass points to help with
> location, e.g. "I live 25 miles north-west of London").  However, we do use
> them on signs: Northbound, Eastbound etc. on the London Underground, and
> simply "The North" or "The South West" on motorway signs.  I don't remember
> seeing the latter usage anywhere else, though I'm sure someone will put me
> right!
>
> Simon
>
>
>

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