Fluxuating Control Cities on Pull through signs

[Kacie Jane]

If you're ever wondering how to get a thread back on topic, just let it sit and fester for a month.

[Scott5114]

I don't buy into this argument. There are many occasions when you're an interstate

I cannot recall even a single occasion upon which I was an Interstate.

[elsmere241]

X is one of the most confusing letters in Mexican Spanish.  To add to what has previously been brought up, I should point out that the letter X is also used interchangeably with the letter J in some cases (e.g., Xalapa/Jalapa, Ximénez/Jiménez).  So, in Mexican Spanish, the letter X can be pronounced in the following ways:

as KS or GS - Example:  exigente (demanding)
as S - Example:  extraño (strange)
as SH - Example:  Xoxtla (a town in Puebla)
as H - Example:  México (hmmmm....)

I had a music teacher in junior high who would insist we pronounce Mexico as "meh - hee - co" if it came up in a song.

[agentsteel53]

I cannot recall even a single occasion upon which I was an Interstate.

we were intercounty that one time we stuck our arms over that fence.

[agentsteel53]

In Medieval Spanish, the letter x was pronounced as SH, as it still is in Catalan, Portuguese, et al.  It later morphed into a guttural H in Spanish (à la México), more or less equivalent to the modern pronunciation of j (hence the alternate spelling, Méjico).  Most of the Mexican words and names in which the x is pronounced as SH are indigenous words; x was chosen to represent that sound in the development of those written languages, and some of those words have no pure Mexican equivalent (e.g. nixtamal).  Interestingly, the x in the name Mexica–the primary Aztec people after which México is named–is pronounced as SH, which is different from its pronunciation in the name México.

quick question - how is "Edomex" (the abbreviation for the state of Mexico) pronounced?  It seems a bit awkward to end on a "j" sound (English "h") so is it a hard "x", like "Pemex"?

[kphoger]

AFAIK, everything ending in -mex pronounces that letter as a ks/gs sound.  Like Pemex.  The only exceptions I could imagine would be indian words, where the letter x actually represents the specific sound sh.

[Tom958]

...For example, coming in I-40 from the airport in Nashville, there comes a point where you can actually see the Nashville skyline, and are coming up to the I-24/I-40 split and the signs only have messages for places that are far away. No indication for what you should be doing to get to places that are actually in Nashville.

Well, because of the configuration of Nashville's freeway system, you really need to know which lane goes where, especially on that particular stretch, where I-24 and I-40 essentially swap places with each other in a space of only three miles. Plus, "Nashville," downtown or otherwise, can be accessed by either I-24 or I-40, and IMO there's no sense implying that one is better than the other. 

EDIT: What really annoys me is that these signs (and many others in Nashville) having the distance to the split on both the exit sign and the pullthrough, as if there's not enough information to digest already.

[DandyDan]

In my attempt to stick to the original topic, I'll state that I believe that I-35 going north from Des Moines goes back and forth between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and there may even be a Twin Cities thrown in there as well.  I seem to recall as a kid that US 169 going north from Mankato would fluctuate between Minneapolis and Twin Cities.  I also seem to recall westbound I-94 in Wisconsin fluctuating between St. Paul and Minneapolis as well.  I don't know if anyone knows what to do about the Twin Cities.

[hobsini2]

In my attempt to stick to the original topic, I'll state that I believe that I-35 going north from Des Moines goes back and forth between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and there may even be a Twin Cities thrown in there as well.  I seem to recall as a kid that US 169 going north from Mankato would fluctuate between Minneapolis and Twin Cities.  I also seem to recall westbound I-94 in Wisconsin fluctuating between St. Paul and Minneapolis as well.  I don't know if anyone knows what to do about the Twin Cities.

Actually, as far as I-94 goes in Wisconsin, at least as of the last time I went through the Chippewa/St Croix Valley area abotu 2 years ago, all the overhead BGS signs said St Paul and did not mention Minneapolis at least as far west as the St Croix River.  However, Minneapolis is mentioned a couple times I seem to recall on the mileage signs on that stretch. I'm sure one of the Wisconsin guys can verify what it is now.

[thenetwork]

I-271 South from I-90 to SR-8 around Cleveland likes to alternate between Akron and Columbus, and sometimes BOTH!. 

[amroad17]

That's because I-271 has an interchange with I-77 South (exit 10), which goes to Akron. So does OH 8, which is mostly freeway grade now. 

[Laura]

I think two of the weirder ones in this respect are "February" and "Wednesday," neither of which I've ever heard said like they're spelled except by teachers trying to emphasize the spelling. 

You must not have spoken to anyone from the UK or anyone that learned British English. I still remember the first time I heard a girl (who was from Jamaica) say Wed-nes-day and Feb-ru-ary - both in the same sentence! I had to seriously process for a second that she said both words the way they sounded. She also said schedule with a "sch" sound rather than a "sk" sound.

[amroad17]

British people usually say schedule with an "sch."  I will sometimes say it that way just to throw people off.

The Hampton Roads area has many different control cities on their pull-through signs, even on ones directing traffic out of the area.  Of course, when an area has seven cities to choose from...