My Dear Ms. Langdon
June 24th, 2008 |
I am in receipt of your “tweet” dated 21 June, 2008, in which you suggest that my tweet of the same day, in which I refer to an “Actual fork in the road,” should have been characterized as a “fork ON the road.”
A fork “on the road,” or “in the road?” You be the judge
While I have not located any definitive reference citations to support my contention, I would argue that there is much precedence for the use of “in” in this context, notwithstanding that I was trying to create a linkage between the actual fork I discovered, and the colloquial expression “fork in the road” having nothing really to do with cutlery.
There are dozens of situations in which “in” is used in common parlance in connection with streets and roads, even when, more accurately, something might be said to be “on.” We would never say, for example, “the plate is in the table,” but we would say:
- Why is that man standing in the street?
- That car is stopped in the middle of the road?
- There’s a bump in the road.
- There’s a dog in the street.
In each of these examples, replacing “in” with “on” would be awkward and uncommon, or dare I say, wrong. This usage is highly variable with other forms of streets. One might say “in the highway,” though that is a bit stilted, but one would not say “in the freeway.” (Brits and Canadians might.) Jack Kerouac would say “On the Road,” but it seems only when we are talking about a person traveling, or en route do we say “on the road” vs. “in the road.” For example, we are “On the Road to Mandalay,” but not in it.
I would be interested in any “official” rulings on this point.
I remain, your friend in letters,
J.R. Postman
Tags: on the road, in the road, rayanne langdon, fork in the road
| Sphere This |
I think some people are just too uptight about grammar and grammar usage. And some people have entirely no sense of humor. And some people are both. :eye roll:
Saying that, I think what you posted, JR, was hilarious - then again, I *got* it.
“Turn left at the fork in the road.” And now I hear Fozzy Bear saying, “Hey Kermit!”
And in England, exactly where we aren’t, it’s common to say “such and such store or house is located in the Haverly Road” or “she lives in Putney Street” by way of example just off the top of my head.
In my writing, I’m bad for putting “she sat in the floor” or “the baby played in the floor” or “the spoon fell into the floor”. But the part of Kentucky I grew up in, that’s how we talked, and some habits are just hard to break. I’ve had to train myself to search / replace for “in the floor” before I send any stories / sections out to readers.
Comment by Mari Adkins — June 24, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
Mari,
Thanks for your comment. Spot on as the Brits say, and they say some funny things, like “I grew up in Kings Cross.” (I grew up on Templeton Ct.) They also say “in hospital,” and “at university,” omitting the possibly unnecessary “the.”
Joel
Comment by joel — June 24, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Oh JJ, you are ridiculous.
Comment by Rayanne Langdon — June 24, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
I beg to differ Ms Langdon - he’s right on the money.
Comment by Mari Adkins — June 25, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
Enjoyed this very much. Reminds me of a very deep conversation a few of us here had about the proper use of the apostrophe. (Sadly, the conversation was with my children, and I lost…)
I think I’d stick with “fork IN the road”!
Comment by Robyn — June 25, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Robyn,
Don’t you mean “stick a fork in the road?”
Joel
Comment by joel — June 25, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
I’m enjoying the comments and the discussion. For the record, Rayanne is a good friend of mine and I did this post for fun, because I thought it was interesting to look at the variations of “in” and “on” in this context, and not to be critical of “Ms. Langdon.”
Comment by joel — June 25, 2008 @ 8:05 pm