No Way! Way!

I noticed high-quality reader input on the recent He Went Thata Way article. I never imagined that there were so many creative Ways to approach the situation and it proved to me that I might be able to mine additional road name gold.

Film poster for Wayne's World. Image by Paramount Pictures; fair use of copyrighted image provided via Wikimedia Commons.

I’d have said “No Way” while the 12MC audience responded “Way” and all that irrelevant quote from Wayne’s World accomplished was to make me feel old when I noticed that the movie was released in 1992, and of course based on a recurring theme from Saturday Night Live even earlier. Great. That was a fine way to start the week.(¹) Confronting my own mortality.


Let’s Recap

I’ll summarize a few comments since I realize most viewers don’t go back once they’ve read the original article. It also gave me an opportunity to credit a few people for their excellent discoveries.

  • Greg flagged Anchorsa Way in Saint Inigoes, MD (a waterfront community near a U.S. naval facility, not surprisingly)
  • Jbapo mentioned a garbage disposal company located on Throwita Way in Placerville, CA
  • Glenn noticed an abundance of Milky Way. I hoped to find one inspired by the candy bar. Alas, they all seemed to observe astronomical themes.

That’s A No-Know

That got me thinking about the possible existence of No Way. Wouldn’t that be cool? Sadly I couldn’t find one. I did uncover North Way in Oceanside, California. One could abbreviate that as No. Way with a little twisted logic. Does that count? How about Know Place in New Bloomfield, Missouri?

“Where do you live? Know Place.” I could see that creating a wonderful Who’s-on-First scenario without too much effort.


Another Tack

Then I decided to use WordFind to review every word ending in Way or Away. I don’t play much Scrabble and I spend Sunday morning writing Twelve Mile Circle instead of solving the New York Times’ crossword puzzle so I don’t normally have much use for this kind of tool. It felt a bit like cheating although it worked effectively enough for my purposes.

That allowed me to uncover numerous additional gems. I’ll highlight only a few:

  • LOTS of examples, too many to mention, for Drive Way, Express Way, High Way, Free Way, and Road Way. I did discover that the faster the implied speed of the name, the more rural and remote the location of the street in question (e.g., does this road look like a freeway?) It also amused me that Maps abbreviated Road Way as Rd Way.
  • Cara Way — as in the caraway seed used as a food seasoning — made frequent appearances. I don’t think residents consciously intended to be clever or funny. Cara has become a somewhat common given name for women (albeit waning in the last decade) and I’ve noticed that housing developers seem to have a penchant for naming streets after family members when they run out of other ideas.
  • Any Way? Everywhere.
  • I found Stowa Way in Daly City, CA; Cottonwood, CA; and Garden Valley, ID.
  • And Sea Way in Bodega Bay, CA; San Rafael, CA; and Harwich, MA.

My favorite instance, however, did not appear on the list. That was Nor Way. I couldn’t tell if its usage implied Norwegian heritage or whether residents simply considered it amusing. Either way(²), I found Nor Way locations in Ithaca, NY; Barnstable, MA; and Harwich, MA.

Are we done with WAY or will the great 12MC audience continue to find even better examples?


Additional Oddities

I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight additional recent input not directly related to today’s topic, although noteworthy as standalone curiosities.

  • Longtime reader Peter mentioned what he considered the “best street name anywhere.” I concur for obvious reasons.
  • Finally, Doug sent an email to Twelve Mile Circle. It wasn’t about a street, rather a town. Take a look at the peculiar boundaries of Round Mountain, Texas including its spindly legs and a divot at its primary intersection.

I enjoy these little discoveries so kindly keep them coming!


12MC Loves Footnotes!

(¹) Please forgive me if I sound a little surly. I’m still trying to ease back into normal 12MC production after my recent holiday. I appreciate everyone bearing with me as I posted a long series of travel articles. So I know from reader statistics that those are not audience favorites, however I enjoy them so that’s what you got. I did try to sprinkle in a few genuine anomalies like the KYTNVA Tripoint and the Time Zone thingy in between Turtleman and the Interstate rest stop. The usual geo-oddities will now take center stage going forward until the next vacation.
(²) Either Way is in Boulder Creek, California, by the way.(³)
(³) Bytha Way is in Shelby, North Carolina.


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13 responses to “No Way! Way!”

  1. January First-of-May Avatar
    January First-of-May

    Again, some misplaced tag seems to make everything down of it smaller 🙂
    (and, I loved that article… unfortunately, as far as I know, my native language doesn’t have a way – no pun intended – to get so many puns in street names)

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      The font problem seems to happen when I use footnotes. I think I fixed it this time.

  2. David Overton Avatar
    David Overton

    The official address of Microsoft’s corporate headquarters is One Microsoft Way, Redmond WA, which I guess is another example of this phenomenon. It’s maybe not as creative as some of the others, but I find it quite sinister considering Microsoft’s monopoly position in certain segments of the computer software market.

    Interestingly, the street that shows up on Bing Maps as Microsoft Way, is labelled as 157th Ave NE on Google Maps and OpenStreetMap. So has Microsoft unofficially changed the name of this street and got USPS to play along?

    1. Aaron of Minneapolis Avatar
      Aaron of Minneapolis

      Then, too, Apple named the (private) main road around its campus “Infinite Loop”.

      And while we’re on the subject of private streets, the Seagate hard drive plant in Bloomington, Minnesota, has an access road named Disk Drive. (Side note: There’s a public street called Computer Ave nearby, named back in the 1960s when Control Data was there.)

  3. David Kozina Avatar
    David Kozina

    What can you come up with if you substitute Drive = Dr = Doctor?…
    Ex:
    Who Dr, Saluda, NC
    Oz Dr, Crestview, FL (and Chalmette, LA)
    Phil Dr, (multiple)
    etc
    Street = St = Saint?
    Way = Wy = Wyoming?
    Court = Ct = Connecticut?
    etc
    Just some random thoughts…

  4. Brandon Avatar
    Brandon

    I was recently on a business trip near the area of “Supreme Court” mentioned in one of your earlier articles. Of course I couldn’t let myself be so close and not drive by and grab a picture, so during my lunch break I drove over to the area and got a great picture of the street sign. Not sure how to post it in the comments, but feel free to email me if you’d like to use it on the blog or see it.

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      Supreme Court in Gaithersburg Maryland

      Thanks for sharing the photo with the readers of 12MC, Brandon. Here it is: Supreme Court in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A spectacular effort on your part, and much appreciated.

  5. flask Avatar

    there is a harm’s way in jericho, VT.

    their street sign is on a saw blade.

  6. kf4lar Avatar
    kf4lar

    What about my hometown’s “Noe Way,” named after the family that lives on it and pronounced “No Way?”

    http://goo.gl/maps/aaS1D

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      Noe Way! 😉 The one spelling variation I didn’t check! Thank you for sharing.

      1. kf4lar Avatar
        kf4lar

        You’re welcome.

        By the way, I was looking at the “Complete Index and Map” recently, and discovered to my surprise that the tiny Wyoming town I live in had an article. Of course I clicked. https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/something-in-common/

        And I was even MORE surprised that I was the reason for the article. I moved to Lyman from Alabama in 2009, bringing my internet favorites with me. I can only guess that I was crunched for time about then with an after work class three times a week to upgrade my EMT certification. Too bad you weren’t able to stop by Fort Bridger OR Lyman. Maybe in the future.

        1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

          Wow! I finally get to meet my Lyman dot! I’m glad you’ve been able to put Lyman on the map (literally) even if it’s only for my Google Analytics account.

  7. Anton Sherwood Avatar

    I hope that there exists somewhere a (or The) Martian Way, title of a story by Asimov; as well as Dean Drive and Lois Lane.

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