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| Name: Ryan Roe Email: prawnrr-rmv@this.com-yahoo.com Position: Movie / Television / Comic Book / Trivia Geek View Ryan's Personal Profile |
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| I've been thinking about the various addresses where I've lived during my life. Specifically, I've been thinking about the street names. There are all kinds of street names: generic but classic (Main Street, Park Street, Elm Street), memorable (Dallas has a Lover's Lane, as well as a neighborhood full of fairy-tale-named streets), unpronounceable (Brooklyn's Kosciuszko). Here, I'm going to take a look at the streets I've lived on and rate their names on a scale of one to five stars. Shetland Road: This was a good one. The name immediately brings to mind natural, country-style images befitting of its location in the rural town of Dripping Springs. It sounds good when you say it out loud, too... Try it: "Shetland Road." 4 stars. Winn Avenue: I never did know who Mr. Winn was, but his surname makes for a pretty boring street name. It's also a name you have to spell for people, so they don't think you live on a street whose name is synonomous with victory. Still, the brevity is nice: I'd rather write "Winn" on my Girl Scout cookie order form than "Sassafrassadopoulichsteinberger." 2 stars. North High Street: This is one of those generic names, but the fact that it was "High" Street always made me feel good, like my street was superior to everyone else's. It also just sounds friendly, as if you're saying, "Hi, street!" 3 1/2 stars. South Staples Street:* The alliteration of "South Staples Street" always pleased me, and I think it made my address pretty memorable. Not too long, not too short... That's a good street name. 5 stars. River Oaks Drive: Another name that evokes rural imagery, making this road sound like a lovely place. Unless you hate trees. Then you're out of luck. Specifying "River Oaks" prevents this from being just another generic tree-named street. 4 stars. Thatch Drive: See, I always liked the word "Thatch." I enjoy the combination of the "th" and "ch" sounds. It also gets points for brevity and uniqueness, and yet I'm going to have to dock it for that very uniqueness, due to the fact that I had to repeat it and spell it every single time I gave anyone my address. 4 1/2 stars. Boerum Street: My current residence. Once again, it's a minor annoyance to have to spell it for people. And while I've resigned myself to pronouncing it "bore-um," the way everyone else in the neighborhood seems to, I still think it should be "bo-rum." Also, Brooklyn has another street called Boerum Place, which has caused some confusion. 1 star. Overall I've had pretty good luck when it comes to addresses. Someday I'd like to live on a street named after a cool animal, like "Tiger Street" or "Bison Boulevard." Or maybe something sort of retro-futuristic, like "Jupiter Avenue" or "Rocket Circle." That would make it more fun than ever to subscribe to magazines. What about you? What kind of street names have you been involved with, and how would you rate them? Have you heard of any crazy or funny ones? *Note: For two years I received mail at the address "SU Box 7165," (my dorm didn't have its own address) but since a wall of post office boxes isn't a street, I'm not including it. Comments on this post are closed. |
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| Man, now I can't stop thinking about Street Names I Have Known... A friend of mine in elementary school lived on "Mossridge Lane," which I always thought had a nice ring to it. Another friend lived on a street called Gloxinia, and although the flower naming is uninspired, the presence of an X makes it interesting. Then there was Uvalde's Nunn Place, which always amused me because of course it made me think of nuns. These days I know some New Yorkers who lived on streets with names like "110th St" and "86th St." That convention of street naming is really great when it comes to finding your way around Manhattan, but those sure are dull. |
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| I currently live on Higate Road, which I will be spelling out for people for the next thirty years, as everyone assumes that it's Highgate. I've also had telemarketers pronounce it as if it is a Japanese word: hi-GAH-tay. Heh. Other streets I have lived on: Lebanon Street, Bay State Road, Wells Avenue, Rantoul Street, and Wellman Avenue. I spent a lot of time on Centre Street and on Hillside Avenue, as well. Nothing too exotic. There's a street in the town my grandparents lived in called Emanon Street. When we were kids, my brother figured out that Emanon is No Name, spelled backwards. Guess someone wasn't feeling very creative... |
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| Wow, you live on Boerum too?? Oh wait, you said Boerum Street. I live on Boerum Place. |
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| Aww, I like "Boerum". It sounds like a comic-book element or something. Anyway, I've lived on 17th Ave. SW (currently), 3rd St., 42nd St. N (at least that is almost the name of the musical), Albrecht Blvd. (I like that one. It sounds like a wacky professor's last name), and the street I grew up on - Wheat Avenue, which sounds like a joke name in a story about North Dakota being completely empty. |
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| Have you ever been to Kosciuszko, TX? It's a Polish community near Floresville. My first street was a rural road without a name (although it has been assigned a number since I left). Then I was on Graham Road. Then Farel Circle, which has been misspelled in every way imaginable. And in college I lived on Santa Gertrudis Street and later University Boulevard. During my NASA internship I lived on Bay Area Boulevard, which is probably the fanciest-sounding name. After college was Innes View Road (which is what the street sign said, although the post office insisted it was Innesview Lane). Now, for at least a few more months, I live on the very same Thatch Road you mentioned, in the very same room you lived, but you already knew THAT. And I agree, it's annoying that you have to spell it every time. |
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| The earliest srteet name I recall living on was Taft Blvd. I like it mostly because it gives me the stripper name "Skipper Taft" when I combine my first pet with my first street. Then I moved to Germany where I got to live on Beethoven Str. If you're going to live on a German street, it's a pretty cool one to live on. The neighboring streets were all German composers too. Also in Germany they have a tradition (for lack of a better word) where they name a street that goes towards a place after that place, but add 'er' at the end. For example, Hamburger Str. would be the street that goes to Hamburg. I didn't live there, but I did have the unique pleasure of living on Glanmuenschweilerer Str. Which connected the tiny town od Boersborn to the only-slightly larger Glanmuenschweiler. Glanmuenschweilerer Strasse. Even the Germans laughed at that one. |
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| In Austin, we lived for a couple of years on Placid Place. A block away, the street terminated, dead-ended at a cemetery, quite fitting considering the street name. Would have made a good Twighlight Zone episode. "A man gets into a car. Little does he know his calm, peaceful existence on Placid Place is about to end in a place of shadows and erie silence, and fear. He is headed into....The Twilight Zone." Shot of sign at entrance to grave-yard, sign reads, "Stupid, Useless TV Ideas Cemetery." Man gets out of car, hears strange groaning. Then, walking Zombie like, coming out of the misy, staggers Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Flavor Flav, Joey Buttafuco, that guy who used to be on "The Partridge Family," and the Screech guy from "Saved By The Bell" Tammye Faye Bakker and others. They all descend on him and he disappears beneath them, screaming, "Whatever happened to "Hill Street Blues?" WGR |
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| Wow, people have a lot to say about street names. Martha: My first thought was to pronounce Higate like "Higget." But I like the Japanese way. Also, Rantoul Street sounds fairly exotic. Do you really think the city planners deliberately named Emanon Street because it was "No Name" backwards? Because that's pretty cool. Anthony: I think it would sound more faux-scientific if it were Borium St. or Borellium St. or something. Then I'd like it more. Albrecht is the name of the strong guy in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, so that's a good one. And I actually like Wheat Ave... It's unpretentious. Matthew: I may or may not have ever heard of Kosciuszko, Texas. It's possible I've passed the exit to it at some point. And I remember Farel Circle, though I probably would have spelled it wrong on the first attempt. Larissa: I think you win. Taft Blvd. is cool because it's named after the fattest president. Beethoven St. sounds very classy. And I'd hate to have to write Glanmuenschweilerer Strasse on my paperwork, but it does make for a good story. roetherev: Placid Place sounds like an idyllic place to live... in fact, I'd probably subtract half a star because it sounds like it's trying *too hard* to convince you it's idyllic. Also, you should pitch your Twilight Zone idea. With the networks struggling sans writers, they're probably open to anything. |
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| Clemson Drive - nice, easy to spell Breezy Bend - very airy Dorothy Jo Circle - Spelled this one a lot. The street sign fell down one time and the sign they replaced it with was mis-spelled: Dorthy Jo Cir. Chase Hill Boulevard - sounds fancy...it wasn't Laureate Dr - I think I had one person guess the right spelling in the two years I lived there. Thatch Drive - I agree, nice, but annoying Del Lago Court - This one's not too bad. The subdivision it's in is Mesa Creek however. I pronounce it mā-sə while practically every person I tell that to tries to correct me, "Mess-a creek?" |
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| Laureate sounds classy. Were there any poets on that street? I never heard that about "Dorthy Jo Cir." That's funny. |
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| I used to live right next door to Dorothy Jo, who was married to Farel. |
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| Is that really true? If so, it's an exciting, exciting piece of Uvalde lore. |
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| Yeah, Farel and Dorothy Jo Warren used to own all of the land in that neighborhood. I never met Farel because he had passed away long before we moved there, but Dorothy Jo is a really nice lady. Oh, and at one time, Tom Petty lived across the street from us. |
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| Next you'll be telling me two of the Heartbreakers lived in your backyard! |
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| During the time of 1999-2003 we lived at 13 Glanmuenschweiler Str. in Boersborn . It was at the top of a hill that went through some fields to a soccer field. How long ago did you live on that strasse Larissa? My son always likes to say it was the best place we ever lived. I'm inclined to agree. |
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| That's so cool! Was it a kick-ass house that was all moderny and built in levels? Pond in the back yard with a pussy-willow tree? Cuz if so then that's my house... or my parent's house. I don't remember it being #13 though. I thought it was 14. |
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