Sender: "The Elders List of St. John's University"
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Sinced I moved from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West several years ago,
certain regional differences have puzzled me.
1. Street addresses - out here it is the exception rather than the rule to
include the term "street", "road", etc. in an address. Back East my office
address was 1500 Pennsylvania Ave.., out here it is 1076 Mission (without
"Street"). Where is the dividing line for these two forms of address?. I
know that central and west Texas, Colorado, and Montana follow the Western
practice of omitting the designation, while Indianapolis follows the eastern
form. What's done in Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis (to pick a
few midpoint cities at random)?
2. Size of butter "sticks" - The four quarter-pound "sticks" of butter or
hard margarine in a pound package are long and slender "Back East" and
comparatively thick and stubby out here. We had to buy a new butterdish when
we moved here because the butter would not fit in our East Coast butter dish.
What's the reason for the difference? And where does the change take place?
3. Milk - For health reasons I do not drink whole milk, 1% or 2% milk. When
I came out here, I looked high and low in the supermarket for what is known
on the East Coast as skim milk and found nothing until I realized that out
here it is called "non-fat" milk. Now when I go back East, I occasionally
forget and ask for "non-fat"` milk and get a blank look from the store clerk
or waitperson. Again, does anyone know the reason for the Western
nomenclature and where is the dividing line between East and West in this
matter?
Are there other such regional differences that plague your curiousity? I am
not even venturing to ask about the various names for carbonated beverages;
i.e. "soda," "pop", etc.
Elisabeth K
SF CA
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