BW Parkway

bcp

bcp

In My Opinion
Why is it still open?
its operated by the National Parks service.
shouldn't it be closed too?
 
Blister

Blister

Active Member
Suitland Parkway? Clara Barton Parkway? George Washington Parkway?

Why do we park on a driveway, and drive on a parkway?:deadhorse
 
Chris0nllyn

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
Blister said:
Why do we park on a driveway, and drive on a parkway?:deadhorse
Click to expand...

Let's go back to when roads and driveways were first invented. How many buildings do you think were on one road? Not many. Back when roads and driveways were first invented there wasn't rows and rows of houses. Houses were far apart and they were far from the road. Driveways were created because houses were too far away from the road to just walk. You actually had to drive a good distance from the road to your car, hence the name driveways.

Even though houses are closer together and closer to the road and driveways are shorter the name is still fitting. Most houses technically have a garage to park in so the driveway's main use is still to drive on, from the road to the garage. But even if don't have a garage or if you have a garage but don't use it, you still drive on the driveway up until the point you park, right? So it's still a driveway.

Why Do We Drive on Parkways, Shouldn't we Park on Parkways?

There are two reasons that there is confusion over parkways and the use of them. The first is that the English is a very difficult language and the second is that the definition of a parkway has been blurred over the years.

I'm going to assume since you're on this site that you at least have a pretty basic knowledge of the English language (and if your knowledge of the English language is only very basic then you probably chose a good writer to read). There are many cases in the English language when one word can have multiple meanings like the word set for example. You can set the table or you can have a set of silverware, or you can win a set in tennis.

One word that has multiple meanings is park. One definition of park means to bring your vehicle to a halt but another meaning of park is a place where kids and play and have fun. The park in parkway actually refers to the park you play in, not park as in park your car.

The first parkways were created by Frederick Law Olmstead. Originally parkways were roads separate from the main roads that were designated for bicyclers and carriages. These roads would normally lead to a park of some kind, so they were a way to the park, hence the name parkway.

Eventually the rules changed so that cars could also take the parkway, as long as it was for pleasure. Over the next 100 years or so the definition of a parkway just got very blurred and started to include more and more types of roads. But originally there was a park involved in the word parkway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top