Rants and raves

So I was writing about the California accent and expressions and when you do that it's almost impossible not to talk about freeways. Like, people who make fun of Californians seem to always start with  yeah, like, you take the 10 to the 5 and then up the 110. But that gets to be a big topic. So I decided to break it out, because it's kind of quirky. Numbered highways are kind of weird in California. There are interstates, legacy U.S. numbered highways, and state highways. Oh, and expressways.  Of these, only interstates are always freeways. Although these are called interstates, only six of the ones in California actually go across the state line (out of 25).  "Interstate"  280  never gets closer than 200 miles from Nevada, or 330 miles from Oregon. Yes, I know there is an explanation for that (apparently the 3-digit ones are local capillaries of the two-digit ones). Although, just to be argumentative about that,  280  never inter...

First of all, let me warn you. This is a bit of a long-read. Kind of like reading a dictionary or a Frommer's Guide or a cookbook is a long-read. In other words, this may be a little OCD, but maybe you'll get some chuckles or recognition from it, or learn something, or otherwise find something to disagree vehemently with. By the way, this really scratches an itch for a natural list-maker (although it's never done, of course).  So you've seen the SNL skit about The Californians . Yet every Californian will argue that we don't have an accent ( Those people you make fun of? That's funny but normal people don't talk like that ). So I decided to dig into it a bit, mostly by watching a bunch of YouTube videos and lots of reddit discussions and a bit of personal experience, observation, and input from my friends (most of whom said Sorry, that was too long, that was work ). The core question is: What characterizes a California accent and/or dialect? A lot of the SN...