Useless Trivia - 1st one to answer gets to ask

I remember them. They tried to do a U.S. knockoff of the series but it didn't work because the two British women *were* the series.

All I can think of are Mapp and Lucia, but I think that was Masterpiece Theater.

 

Are you thinking of French and Saunders?

 

Yes, they are who I was thinking of. I didn't know they tried for an americanized version of the show. Too many times they do that, and I feel that they should just keep the show the way it is, brings to mind the The Office. The British version is much better than the American one, also they are going to make an American version of Top Gear, I think that will not do so well. Next question Godiva?

 

Oh, of course - the Ab Fab duo.

 

They didn't try a U.S version of French and Saunders, it was Absolutely Fabulous. Didn't do that well. Not even sure if it made 13 weeks.

Hm. I'm in a rush so I'll make it something silly and a tribute to George Carlin.

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a Parkway? Any to add are invited.

 

Stumped?

Where did the term Parkway come from and how did it come to mean a freeway? That's what we call them on the West Coast. Parkway seems to be a more common term on the East Coast.

Likewise....where did the term Driveway come from and how did it come to mean the little pad by your house where you park your car?

The words couldn't be that old as cars have only been in common use for about a century. Or....are the terms older and predate cars?

 

The early parkways in the east actually involved considerable landscape architecture & were designed to be much more asthetically pleasing than modern highways.

They included park-land, scuptured stone bridges, and picnic areas ---

Bronx River Parkway

 

And is a 'free' way a highway without tolls?

 

Possibly. But the highways we have in the west have never been toll roads. As far as I can tell, a highway didn't have stoplights or intersections and so traffic could move quickly, bypassing city congestion. The freeways are the same but tend to be 4 lanes or more. The older highways might have been only 2 lanes. I'm thinking of the difference between old highway 101 and Interstate 5; a freeway.

There are areas where old highway 101 could be called a parkway. I *know* the section of Interstate 163 (the old highway 395) that goes through Balboa Park is only 2 lanes AND it certainly meets the definition of a parkway.

 

OK, I'll guess again. It's so much simpler just to look things up, but that would be cheating. Is a freeway meant to be free of intersections? Nah, you already said that. Other than 101 being so much more scenic than I5, I'm not sure what other differences there are.

 

Highway is a very very old English term for roads that connect different cities or villages (i.e., through roads). Freeways were meant to be free of local traffic and tolls. Parkways are landscaped.

 

... and original turnpikes required turning a turnstile, one the toll was paid. I suppose the horses could just jump over the barrier also ... :deadhorse:

 

Okay. Samiam get's half for driving on a "Parkway".

Now....what about parking on the "Driveway"?

 

Why couldn' you ask an easy one, like "truckstop"? ;-)

 

Back when properties were larger and the house was reached by a driveway off the main road, the term made sense. Now that we're all so squished together in urbania, the driveway is pretty short. Well, it sounds plausible, anyway.

Wasn't this a George Carlin routine?

 

And in keeping with that aesthetic, a lot (all? most?) of parkways in NY do not allow trucks and commercial vehicles.

My TomTom GPS (using I assume British English) calls a highway a "motorway".

 

You may be on to something Hyo.
Our "driveway" is about 250m long, we never park on it.
(and it has a roundabout!)

Yes, I know its atypical.

 

Will the freeway be replaced by a Prii-way?

 

Only if it has a troll booth. :drum:

 

I think Hyo's right about the driveway originally being longer and made for driving on... say, up to your carriage house, in which you'd park. The "troll booth" remark probably negates that answer though.