Talk:Street

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[edit] Roman Streets

Contra the whole thesis of this article in Britain the term 'street' often denoted a very long Roman road: as in Ermine Street, Watling Street, Stane Street etc. The Saxon invaders used 'straet' as a term of choice when designating a Roman Road. Colin4C 23:38, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Street < Latin [viā] strāta = "paved [road]" (which made an impression on everyone at the time - cf. Arabic ṣirāṭ for "paved road", from the same source)
Old English for "street" was gatu > Modern gate, cf. German Gasse (now meaning "alley") and English street names like "Briggate" and "Kirkgate".

Colin, perhaps you could re-write the whole thing - this article could use lots of work.

While it is perfectly true that Old English stræt -- deriving from Latin via strata, "laid-down way" -- referred to any paved road (and thus by definition to a Roman one, the only kind of paved road the early Anglo-Saxons knew) I don't think the article as it stands is misguided in discussing what the term means today: that is, after all, the principal purpose of a Wikipedia article. However, not defining a term by what it once signified doesn't imply that the evolution of its meaning shouldn't be mentioned: there is definitely scope for adding such a history to the article.
Incidentally, re the unsigned notes above concerning the Old English for "street" in the urban sense,
  • the O.E. word was gæt, "opening, passage" (geatu is plural).
  • the "gate" in street names like "Kirkgate" derives, in fact, from the cognate Old Norse word gata (cf. Modern Norwegian gata, Danish gate): it is noticeable that English streets ending in -gate are concentrated in the Danelaw -- had "Kirkgate" descended from O.E. it would today be "Churchgate". -- Picapica 07:36, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

What is misguided is the reversal of old and new usages, particularly in the final paragraphs. The 19th and 20th Century sense is mistakenly labeled as "original" when in fact the distinction between "street" and "road" which runs through the article is modern. The original distinction, as far as I can see, was that a "street" is paved. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, paving became commonplace in urban areas, hence the word acquired a new urbane connotation, which the article takes for granted as an original denotation whence some foolish commentators have strayed. Jim.henderson 15:21, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I added a paragraph on etymology, in an attempt to clear up the confusion. It should perhaps be at the beginning. Re: the discussion about -gates, these were often the intra/extra-mural streets leading to particular gates, such as Aldgate; but you're right there is a confusion throughout the article. Kbthompson 14:34, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Longest Street in....

Added link to Longest Street in Canada (perhaps N america?) --Richard416282 05:58, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Your link doesn't work.....Colin4C 12:01, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] CfD

Removed cfdnotice, cfd has completed. --Kbdank71 16:52, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rereading Boulevard, Road, Street

My experience with the article/comment "Boulevard" leads me to believe that not many people know what this is. The dictionary explanations are pretty fuzzy as well.

Here is my take: Any street which has the two directions separated by islands of grassy fields is a Boulevard. No exceptions. My friends and I used to play ball in the Boulevard because the islands were so large. Entire Boulevards are typically over 100 feet wide. Most often the Boulevards are just a few blocks long and when the islands cease and the street narrows the Boulevard reverts to being called "street".

Sometimes a Boulevard has foliage other times just grass.

Some ways to figure this out include:

  • A planter or two in the middle of a street does not make it into a Boulevard.
  • A sidewalk with grass/foliage between it and the street is not a Boulevard it is simply a more intelligent way to build a street.
  • The Post Office is not the official arbitrator, or designator of a single passageway in the U.S. or the world. Whatever the U.S.P.S. decides is not law.
  • Arbitrary use of the name Boulevard for a street by the city or by developers does not make a pig an eagle!

So that should clear up any confusion. Forget the dictionary. Utter Nonsense.

As for a road:

A road runs through the countryside. Grandpa may have passed his take on it down to his children but it is the fact that a street is only a city passageway. There are no streets between the cornfields of Iowa and there are no roads in the city. Enough said. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.27.87.107 (talk) 23:40, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

You realize, of course, that you are not the official arbiter or designator of what constitutes a street, road, boulevard, etc, either. I'd say that it has gotten to the point now where the generic identifier (street, boulevard, etc) is chosen now with only the urban designer's aesthetic sense in mind; any differentiation seems to boil down to a few rules of thumb, like:
  • a "place" or "close" is a cul-de-sac
  • a "crescent" is a minor ways starting and ending on the same major thoroughfare
  • a "hill" should ideally run up one, etc.
Other than that, the homogenization of names means that by now any attempt to further restrict the naming of streets to conform to the presence and placement of shrubberies would be pedantic at best. So, unfortunately for some, we will have Yonge Street running blithely from urbane downtown T.O. way out into the savage wilds of (gasp) rural Ontario, not to mention the somewhat tautological Avenue Road which, though a "road", is entirely within the city. (And don't get me started on "Cappella Starway" or "Windy Golfway"). --SigPig |SEND - OVER 12:11, 17 January 2008 (UTC)