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Old April 25th 19, 01:10 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default English Usage: was: AG: Spring is here

On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 21:35:35 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

I looked at it southbound, chickened out,
and took 400 N to 300 W.


It's a very firm idiom, in English, to say "take" instead of "use"
when we are talking about roads. It would be odd to say "I used 400 N
to get to 300 W.", and downright ungrammatical to say "I used 400 N to
300 W."

So it's natural to say "take the lane" when we mean "use the whole
lane" -- but it's equally natural for people to hear the *other*
meaning of "take", and some folks say "sieze" when they are quoting
us.

The signs on McKinley get it right when they say "Bicycles may use
entire lane."

Note that the word is "may", not "must".

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/


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