(across the) "block" ~= street, and the OED?

[Jonathan Lighter]

The "300 block" usage was unknown to me also in NYC, but it is very common
elsewhere.

Those "W. 72d St." signs have been there for as long as I can remember.  The
reason is that the division between East Side and West Side begins (or
perhaps "began") on the West (Central Park) side of Fifth Avenue.

In practical terms, it is absolutely inconsequential because it has no
effect on address numbers on Fifth Avenue. There are no addresses "on" W.
72d St. as it wends its way toward Central Park West, or on any of the other
handful of "transverses" through the park. The W. 72d St. addresses begin on
the other side of Central Park.

Another ex. of people with not enough to do and not enough on their minds.

JL


On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 2:15 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: (across the) "block" ~= street, and the OED?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "The 300 block" phrasing is something I have never heard in NYC.
> Wouldn't work on the avenues in Manhattan, and the streets are better
> defined by the avenues: streets are defined as east or west of Fifth
> Avenue, 100 numbers to the avenue; Park Avenue replaces Fourth Avenue
> except for a few blocks south of 14th St.
>
> There was a recent to-do in the press when it was noticed that the
> street names on bus stop signs on the west side of Fifth Avenue,
> adjacent to the eastern edge of Central Park, were labelled west, as
> in W 72nd St., even though W 72nd St. actually exists only on the west
> side of the park, the equivalent of three avenues away.
>
> DanG
>
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 1:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: (across the) "block" ~= street, and the OED?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I would not reject "down the street" as possibly referring to some place
> on
> > the same block, but I'd be less likely to say it.
> >
> > My impression is that in Knoxville people will almost always say "down
> [or
> > "up"] the road."  Blocks exist but, as in most cities, they are not
> usually
> > rectangular (more blocklike), as they so often are in NYC.  About the
> only
> > time "block" is used seems to be in phrases like "The 300 block."
>
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