Comments on: ON the Lower East Side

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 01 Aug 2003 04:15:11 +0000

The reason is because of the reference to a 'side', in this case the side of the island of Manhattan. Sides are 2-dimentional and therefore you cannot be 'in' a side, only 'on' it. If this area of Manhattan had been named the Lower East Corner, then you could be 'in' it. It is a only because New Yorkers termed the LES as including an area inside the shoreline that this anomaly exists.

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By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:57:02 +0000

exsouthern belle, "When 'on' Rome" perhaps ;)

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By: searcher

searcher — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 00:16:00 +0000

Ryan, I think I can hazard a guess as to why one gets on a train. Originally the term "train" meant any group of conveiances travelling together in something approaching a single file. So one would travel through the desert on a camel, with the camels in a train. With the steam (and later electric) locomotive taking over much of the cross country travel duties from wagons and horses, train came to generally mean the locomotive and the railroad cars pulled by it. Since one gets on wagons, camels, horses, ships, etc. the use of on continues for all things which can be trained (I think that is the correct verb) together for transportation.

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By: exsouthern belle

exsouthern belle — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 15:39:07 +0000

Ryan, somehow the folks in Dothan, Alabama do ride 'on the car'. And if you were going with friends and you were doing the driving you'd be 'carryin' them on your car'. Guess that what is really correct may depend on where it's being said. Or "When in Rome........?"

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By: patnasty

patnasty — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 17:23:24 +0000

speaking of new york linguistic peculiarities why does the Bronx get a definite article, when the rest of the boroughs are article-less furthermore, "downtown" and "uptown" in New York imply the location on the y-axis. In other cities, "downtown" means the commercial/tall-building-ed part of the city, which in New York, is more Mid-town than downtown these days. that, and in New York "deli" means a place where you can buy beer, cigarettes, lotto tickets, and things like that, and maybe, just maybe, has some twenty-year old lunch meat and stale bread

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By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:57:19 +0000

The sentence is correct as it stands. "Dell Dude Arrested with Pot ON the Lower East Side [of New York City]"

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By: Choire

Choire — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:48:20 +0000

Anyone saying "in the Lower East Side" would be no longer be allowed to remain *in* New York City. Teresa is absolutely accurate.

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By: Dan Carroll

Dan Carroll — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 09:21:30 +0000

When discussing locations in a city based on "side", I have never heard any other preposition besides "on". First thing that popped into my head (showing my age) is "On the south side of Chicago" from the song THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED". Other examples would be: "On the other side of town..." "Love on the wrong side of town.." "On the sunny side of the street..." "On golden pond..." (okay, that didn't actually apply, but Henry Fonda was the BOMB) And why do we say "On the outskirts?" Would you be "under the inskirts?"

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 09:16:49 +0000

I'm not sure what the actual rule is but it is actually dependent on what you are describing. For example to say "the dog was on the roof" is appropriate, but then again you wouldn't say "the dog was on the basement" would you? Both are houses, right? Same with transportation, you can get ON the train, ON or IN the bus, or ON or IN the plane, but not ON the car.

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By: Teresa Nielsen Hayde

Teresa Nielsen Hayde — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:33:38 +0000

The reporter was correct. It's colloquial New York usage. This isn't a 100% reliable rule, but in general, regional designations are "on" -- the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, etc. -- but you're "in" specific neighborhoods: Midtown, Chelsea, Harlem, Soho, Tribeca, Gramercy Park, etc. It gets interesting. There's a large swath of Brooklyn that's "on the Slope"; that is, on the long westward downslope from Prospect Park to the waterfront. Only part of that area can be described as being "in Park Slope", a specific neighborhood south of Fort Green and east of Carroll Gardens. Even better, there's a Lower East Side neighborhood called Loisaida, which is just "Lower East Side" as pronounced by its Hispanic inhabitants. If you're in that neighborhood, you're in Loisaida, but you're on the Lower East Side. The boroughs are all "in" -- in Brooklyn, in the Bronx, in Queens -- except for Staten Island, which can be "in" or "on" as the speaker prefers.

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