street work

[Wilson Gray]

The traffic lane on the east side of the street, not the east-bound
traffic lane.

And squeezing four weeks into the hours 7:00am-3:30pm? Interesting.

-Wilson

On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 5:09 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      street work
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you wouldn't mind, please read this paragraph and then answer the
> question below.
>
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> JPC construction will be doing work at a manhole location on 34th
> Street just north of Spruce Street. Therefore, the east traffic lane
> will be closed for approximately 4 weeks during the hours of 7:00am -
> 3:30 pm M-F.
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> Did you read that as referring to
>  1. the eastbound lane, or
>  2. the lane on the east side of the street?
>
> The intended reading is #2: 34th St. in Philadelphia runs N-S, so
> there is no eastbound lane. But I first read it as #1. Then I realized
> that that was impossible and it must refer to the eastbound lane of
> Spruce Street. But the text says 34th north of Spruce, not in the
> intersection, and I wound up writing for clarification. The reply was
>
> ----
> You are correct. 34th runs North to South. Therefore there is an east
> side and a west side of the street. In the case of the construction
> location, the lane on the east side of the street will be blocked off.
> ----
>
> I grew up in NYC, where the numbered streets run E-W, and after almost
> six years in Philadelphia I still stumble over the difference
> sometimes. Now I can't tell whether my misunderstanding was wholly due
> to that, or whether the sentence really is confusing.
>
> Mark, facing .....  East
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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