American poet and novelist Jack Kerouac's travelogue novel On the Road, was published in 1957 and was either entirely unedited or was beneficially edited by Malcolm “crafty” Cowley, Kerouac’s Viking Press editor.
Gothamist has more on that story. And here we have more on roadways and words to describe them. Ten specific words for that road you’re traveling.
- autobahn — German, Swiss, or Austrian expressway
- avenue — a broad street or road; can indicate the longest and widest of a large city’s street; in Britain, often a lane leading from a main road to a country house
- beltway — an expressway that circles or skirts an urban area; also called belt highway or bypass
- boulevard — a broad city street, usually landscaped and often divided by a median; also called parkway
- corniche — a coastal road alongside a cliff
- drag — slang for a street or road; often main drag
- expressway — a divided highway, usually with higher speeds and controlled access, for through traffic; also called freeway, limited access highway, superhighway, thruway
- frontage road — a local, full-access street that parallels an expressway; also called service road
- pike — an expressway with tolls; also called tollway, toll road, turnpike
- thoroughfare — a main, or heavily traveled road
Header photo via Kilyan Sockalingum, Unsplash.
This article was originally posted on the Copyediting website, March 12, 2013.
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
— Jack Kerouac
