Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E and W
Kim Braithwaite
kbtrans at COX.NET
Fri Sep 3 16:38:25 UTC 2010
A small addition to Paul's appreciation of Salt Lake City's grid system (a
pattern that is repeated in dozens of towns all over the region). The peaks
of the Wasatch Range rise up immediately to the east of the string of cities
located along that front, making it very easy to be oriented NESW almost
anywhere. When I moved to Tucson AZ, where the tallest mountain peaks rise
up north of the town, my ingrained Wasatch orientation kept me confused for
quite a while.
Mr Kim Braithwaite, Translator
Russian and Georgian
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 8:51 AM
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E and W
> Richard Robin wrote:
>
>> Come to think of it, Russian *road signs *are rather sparse on compass
>> directions, at least in the cities I have driven in or between (Moscow,
>> SPb,
>> Petrozavodsk, Arkgangelsk). (For those who do not drive in the US, nearly
>> all numbered road markers, from the widest Interstate to a lowly country
>> state route, usually have direction tags, e.g. I-95 North) The only time
>> I
>> remember seeing compass directions used is on the MKAD: МКАД - СЕВЕР,
>> МКАД
>> - ЮГ... which actually makes little sense, since it's a ring (albeit oval
>> shaped, and at 109 km, about the same dimensions at the 103-km Atlanta
>> Perimeter Road, I-285), and you're never going in one direction for long
>> (in
>> theory - although traffic may keep you in one place for hours). But for
>> all
>> the exits (and for the Petersburg KAD as well and intercity roads
>> beyond),
>> the directions are referenced by suburb and city names, e.g. ЦЕНТР vs.
>> МУРМАНСК. Road markers are rare (like M10 / E95) and never include
>> direction
>> tags. Plus, identifying markers are totally non-existent for secondary
>> roads; directions are often given by landmarks: Go about 10 minutes
>> until
>> you see the dacha development billboard, then turn right. The approach to
>> Petrozavodsk from the only intercity road (Murmanskoe shosse) has two
>> signs
>> showing ЦЕНТР within a few hundred meters of each other. They both lead
>> downtown, but one leads to a northern spur, the other to a southern spur.
>> The signs don't give you a clue as to which is which.
>>
>> Of course in general American signs are in general more loquacious than
>> Russian signs, which hew to established international symbolic standards.
>> Russian signs convey in symbols not words things like No Left Turn, One
>> Way,
>> End Divided Highway (BTW, why are these apparent imperatives in American
>> English?), etc. And some of our No Parking signs have so much verbiage on
>> them that they resemble legal contracts.
>
> In my experience, many Americans are ignorant of NESW, so the GPS habit of
> giving directions in terms of your current heading makes sense. I happen
> to prefer knowing NESW, but I can't often get that information unless I go
> online or consult some other map.
>
> In the Philadelphia area, the original roads were built parallel or
> perpendicular to the Delaware river, so the entire grid is 40° off true
> north. Consequently, it makes little sense to speak of traveling "west"
> when you're actually traveling 40° north of west (310°).... In Manhattan,
> on the other hand, uptown/downtown is essentially north/south, and the
> east and west sides of the island are called that, so everyone is familiar
> with it and uses NESW on a daily basis.
>
> My favorite is Salt Lake City, which was built from scratch on a planned
> grid. Streets are named for their grid position, thus: "200 South" is a
> street running E/W 200 houses south of the main E/W axis. And a house 400
> houses east of the center of town on the street called "200 South" would
> have the address "400 East 200 South." Beautiful!
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_City#Layout>
>
> As for numbered routes, the directions specified on road signs correlate
> to the big picture, not to the road's direction at a particular point. So
> for example, US Route 202 runs mostly N/S along the eastern seaboard, but
> anyone who knows a bit of geography will immediately see that it's more
> like NE/SW, with frequent wrinkles along the way. But for convenience, the
> convention is to call its directions "north" and "south." Similarly,
> Pennsylvania route 611 runs roughly N/S from Philadelphia to the Poconos.
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Route_611>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_202>
>
> As luck would have it, these two roads intersect and overlap briefly near
> Doylestown, PA:
>
>
> 611 N/S 202 N/S
> || ||
> \\ //
> || ||
> \\ <= 611 N/202 S //
> ================
> // 202 N/611 S => \\
> || ||
> // \\
> || ||
> 202 N/S 611 N/S
>
> As you can see, the overlap bears the very peculiar designations "202
> N/611 S" on the eastbound side and "611 N/202 S" in the westbound side.
> How anyone can understand that proceeding east on this highway will take
> you simultaneously north on 202 and south on 611 is left as an exercise to
> the reader.
>
> --
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
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