I've determined that you have to give directions according to the personality of the people requesting them. For example, if I want to know how to get somewhere, I want you to tell me what it's near. I want landmarks, and "down the hill from the Dairy Queen" is fine for me.
My husband, however, freaks out at that kind of direction. His favorite expression on the subject is that everything in Alabama is either "down the hill, on the hill, or up the hill." He will then say in frustration "There's more than one hill!" So, when he wants directions, he wants to be told whether he'll be driving north or south or east or west, how far it is in mileage, what the names of the streets are and what the house number is if it's residential.
Me, I couldn't tell you what direction my house faces unless I was outside at dawn or sunset and could point and say "Okay, yeah, that must be east." Yesterday he asks me where I parked for class and I said "by the tennis courts."
Him: What street are they on?
Me: I dunno.
Him: Well, what street is your classroom building on?
Me: I dunno, 15th I think. No, it could be 9th.
Him: How did you know how to get there?
Me: Oh that's easy, it's over there near the library, you turn by the minipark right past where they're building the new rec center, and it's a couple streets back if you get to Healthsouth hospital you've gone too far.
Him: I love you, so much. But Oh My God if I had to think like you do my head would explode.
So anyway, when I was asked to send directions to my old church for the reunion that's coming up, I decided to include two sets. So if you ever wanted to know how to get to Argo Christian Fellowship, choose whichever set appeals to you and now you know.
My kind of directions:
quote:Go up 59 toward Gadsden, and take the Argo exit. Go to 11, then take a left. You’ll pass Fox’s Pizza where Emily’s friend had his birthday party, and my dentist’s office on the right and a little shopping center on the left. There’s a shop in there called “Parrots in the Parlor” that has some of the neatest home accessories, you should check it out if you have time. Anyway, you’ll go about a mile or so when you see this wooded area with a small house – that’s Ben and Kristin’s house – Ben’s our youth pastor - and it’s actually on the church property. The church is right next to it. If you go past William’s Orchard you’ve gone too far. If you pass the Southern Oaks quarter horse farm you’ve also gone too far, but be sure to look at the horses, they had some foals this spring and they’re really cute. Oh, and if you’re coming back stop at Williams Orchard and buy some of their sweet cream butter. I’ll pay you back.
Directions for all the other poor souls who don't know the joy of thinking like I do
quote:Traveling on 59 North take exit 148. Turn right, following the sign to Highway 11. The road comes to a T at 11, take a left. Travel north on US Hwy 11 for 7/10th of a mile. The church will be on your right. Allowing for differences in individual speedometers, it might be slightly more or less than 7/10th of a mile in your particular car
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Yes, actually I saw a whole special on this very subject on 60 minutes or Nightline or one of those shows. You and your husband are very typical of your respective genders in this regard .
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I have the argument all the time -- because I exclusively use "east" "west" "north" and "South" in my directions, and city people want to hear "left" or "right"
So I will say "go to Pawnee Street and turn east" and they will say "is that left or right?"
sheesh!
Farmgirl
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
In Rhode Island, we give directions by landmarks that don't exist anymore.
eg, Turn at Saint Anne's then take a left where the Almacs used to be.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I like Belle's way of giving directions. I only use North, East, West or South if I don't know what direction the person is coming from. So like I'll say "Get on Sunset going East." but will add "Turn right on Woburn, left on Barkley." Because at that point I know which directio nthey're coming from.
I like landmarks and distance too. So like our new house is super easy, get off at this exit heading west, keep going until you can't go any farther, then turn left. Go up the big hill until you can't go farther, then turn right. We're on the corner.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
I hope I'm not the only one who couldn't tell you which way is North, south, east, or west unless I'm in my house (or I'm outside, and its not midday). "Turn left at Blah Avenue" works best for me.
--j_k
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I must be a man. I prefer concrete, consise, name-oriented directions. A few landmarks are fine (and necessary if a particular turn is poorly marked or strange), but by and large I prefer names and directions. Sometimes I just like having the address so I can look at it (on a map) and design my own driving directions. When giving directions I try to combine the two styles so that, regardless of their personal style, they should understand how to get there.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
I'm like Ludosti, when I give directions, I use concrete steps with landmarks at each step (or as many as I can) so that it works for everyone. But I was never actually conscious of my doing it that way until it was pointed out to me by someone who told me that a street name had changed and if it weren't for my adding in the "Jewel grocery store on the left", they'd have gotten lost.
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
quote:I've determined that you have to give directions according to the personality of the people requesting them.
How do you give directions in the bronx? Or backwater Louisiana? (I think the later would require lots of "Single Wides, Double Wides, with or without wheels and a good knowledge of pre-1980 truck models and how many confederate flags)
Please recognize this as a joke.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I am so like you when it comes to directions, Belle. I always have this extremely embarassing moment when I ask for directions, when the other person say something like,"Head east 4 miles, then turn right,...", etc., and I have to stop them and ask them to give me a landmark. Glad to see I'm not the only one afflicted so. Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
quote:Allowing for differences in individual speedometers
I think you mean odometers.
And I'm on the "guy side" of the direction divide.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
I use both nearly interchangably, and it drives people nuts. If I'm giving written directions I'll normally use street names and cardinal directions. If I'm giving vocal instructions, I'll resort to using landmarks as well as right/left instructions. Occasionally I'll mix the two and wind up with (take a right on Broadway, and head north at the next light).
I personally go the non-male direction and prefer people give me directions based on landmarks and right or left hand turns. It's only when their directions don't work I start wishing for a mapquest like list.
Posted by dropofTapioca (Member # 7867) on :
Lol, I'm a guy, but I guess I'm somewhere in the middle(in terms of directions, I mean). I have to have the street names and turns, but also like the landmarks to double check.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
I apparently funtion very well with north and south for a girl, so when I give directions, I always blend the two types. I like to have cardinal directions, but landmarks are easier to spot than streetsigns.
Ni!
Posted by Hmm216 (Member # 8403) on :
I am terrible at giving directions, but I am good at taking them. Ask me to take you anywhere in the world and if you follow me I will get you there. If I tell you how to get somewhere, you will most likely never find it!
(note:Never as Hmm216 for directions!)
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
My two cents: if you're familiar with the general area, then you're more likely to know cardinal directions. If I'm going to an area I don't know, though, I'd much rather hear left/right than east/west.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I'm like Architraz! What is this world coming to?
But get me inside a building, and I couldn't find my way out to save a life, with or without directions. Don't know what it is, but man oh man, they confuse the heck out of me.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
I'm not a very good navigator. I admit that. However, trying to get directions from either of my parents is next to useless for me. Mom will do the "typical" female thing of mentioning landmarks instead of street names, sometimes vague landmarks that I'm sure mean something to her when she sees them but are not effectively described. ("A hill on the left" being a very extreme example of this.)
Dad, however, is incapable of giving directions starting at the location that I'm actually starting the trip from, and assumes I know my way around places that I don't. "You just take 62 to 8 and you're there." But how do I get to 62 from HERE? And is that county road 8, highway 8, 8th street, 8th avenue, what? The place isn't even on an 8-thing, so I'm not "there" yet; there has to be at least one more turn.
Both of them will give multiple routes to get somewhere, too. I don't need that. I do not have Schroedinger's Car, so I will only be driving along one path. Asking directions with both of them in the room is even worse!
I use mapquest.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
My sister has given me directions that included the following: Turn left at the place I told you there was a shed. I know you can't see the shed, but turn left there. It might look different now, though, with the snow.
I didn't find the turn.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
quote:(I think the later would require lots of "Single Wides, Double Wides, with or without wheels and a good knowledge of pre-1980 truck models and how many confederate flags)
Please recognize this as an unoriginal and stereotypical joke.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I'm a "start with cardinal directions, use street names and address numbers, leave off all landmarks except exceptionally obvious and/or important ones, and use left/right for every direction after the first" kind of guy.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I'm a "start with cardinal directions, use street names and address numbers, leave off all landmarks except exceptionally obvious and/or important ones, and use left/right for every direction after the first" kind of guy.
I don't think any of us are surprised by this.
--Enigmatic
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
About a month ago my mom told me all about LA while looking at mapquest, pointing out where she lived as a kid and where the school was, the bad neighborhoods, the library, etc.
I went there for the first time a few weeks ago and I am happy to say I did not get lost and actually could tell where I had to go to get to the hotel. I've been to San Jose and San Francisco many times and I am so lost I never even TRY to understand directions.
Moral: I'm a guy and prefered the guy style directions. But getting woman style directions while looking at a map of LA helped me tons. Something like "Wilshire" (pronounced will-sure, not will-shire--which helped to know the pronounciation) "is the main street that goes to the beach" helped A LOT.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:I don't think any of us are surprised by this.
Enigmatic
Best directions I've found yet are at Google Maps.
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
I hate directions. For a guy, I am the most directionless person in existance. I can get lost very easily if I don't know how to get where I am going. On the other hand, once I know where something is, I can find it very easily.
In order for me to find something, I need a map mixed with landmark explanations. I rarely ask for directions. Not because I am a guy, but because I don't understand any audio explanations. Usually, I ask "what is the address of ...." and as long as I have a reliable map, I do fine.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
As a visiting nurse, I learned in my first week of work not to get directions from my patients. They have no idea how to get to their own homes.
You either learn very quickly to read a map, or you find another line of work.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I am a landmark kind of person as well. Using Belle's directions I could navigate. Using the other set of directions, I'd most likely get lost.
I think part of the problem about using street names is that street signs can be small and hard to find. Landmarks are easier, because they can usually be, you know, seen.
I can, however, navigate using a map. When I was in ROTC, I was very good at land navigation.
*shrug* No idea.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
quote:
quote:Allowing for differences in individual speedometers
I think you mean odometers.
Actually, it was fine like she wrote it. Both odometers and speedometers (typically) function by counting the revolutions of the speedometer cable (running from the transmission right up to the dashboard) and so they would tend to be off or not together. (And if you have a rental truck and don't wish to pay for too much mileage, you could . . . er, never mind. )
-o-
I use a little of both, but in places where roads don't follow cardinal directions but curve and meander (even if tending toward one direction) then I don't like to be told directions. I have an excellent sense of direction, but I can still get disoriented and not know which way I'm facing.
Posted by raventh1 (Member # 3750) on :
I use both, but I'm special.
I also translate for people on they fly.
For someone that almost always knows what direction north is; directions do not bother me in any form.
Posted by John Van Pelt (Member # 5767) on :
My ex-wife once told me to turn left where Aunt Martha used to live.
Aunt Martha whom I had never heard of, much less met.
And whose house no longer existed.
What's funny, is that after eventually figuring out which turn it was (Smithtown Road, or Rte 137 West, or something), I forever afterward considered that corner to be where Aunt Martha used to live, too.
But I don't think I would put it in directions.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I like to have both sets of directions. While distances, directions and street names are really useful, they are insufficient.
Most people are really bad at estimating distance. Unless they've actually measured the distance, they are usually way off. I once read a report of an army study that found that even people with extensive training in orienteering could rarely estimate distance with in better than a factor of 2. I've been told, "go about 200 yards", when it's turned out to be closer to a mile, and similarly told "go about 200 yards", when the real distance is closer to 100 feet.
Street signs are often hard to see and sometimes don't exist at all. Turn south doesn't help much if you aren't familiar with an area, don't know the landmarks, the roads don't run straight, or get confused.
I've also had problems with landmarks alone. Have you ever been told to turn right at the seven eleven, only to find that there are two seven elevens not far apart? I have.
Mostly, what I really need is a good map. Directions don't do me much good once I've made the first wrong turn. If I have a good map so that I can visual where I am relative with where I want to be, then I can always find my way.
When I'm given direction, exploring a new area or following someone, I construct a mental map. That map is the way I find my way around. Unless the roads run on a perfect square grid, my mental map will have errors. Sometimes I'll be following a different route than usually, come around a corner and find myself in a familiar place that I had no idea was so close because my mental map hadn't connected things right. All in all, I do much much better if I've seen and studied a real map first. Then I can pretty much find anything.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
I'm actually really glad to hear that most people have trouble estimating distance. I thought it was just me. I guess everyone else just thinks they are good at it.
And I navigate almost exclusively by landmark, but I always give mixed directions with cardinal directions, left/right, landmarks, street names, distance (if it's something I've measured), etc. It generally works pretty well.
--Mel
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
I do it like Tom, which actually does surprise me. Though, there is this one sort of odd turn on the way to our house that I usually give way more detail than usual so people don't miss it. (The street goes on with four lanes in the same direction it has been, only the name changes and you have to turn right (not even at a light or obvious landmark) to stay on the same street. Georgia is evil that way.)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
"Turn left at Blah Avenue" works best for me.![[Laugh]](graemlins/laugh.gif)
Enigmatic![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
)![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Though, there is this one sort of odd turn on the way to our house that I usually give way more detail than usual so people don't miss it. (The street goes on with four lanes in the same direction it has been, only the name changes and you have to turn right (not even at a light or obvious landmark) to stay on the same street. Georgia is evil that way.)