“ Hey ! How come wedriveonparkways andparkondriveways ? Huh ? Huh ? Amiright ? ! ”
undecomposed heartache . This rust-brown one - liner ’s gotten plenty of gas mileage , but few realize that the motion is actually answerable .
The run-in “ drive ” and “ park ” subsist long before automobiles . Remember , whenever you write or mouth , you ’re voting with your mental lexicon . Languages evolve over prison term and a hand full term ’s meaning is subject to dramatically change base on the whim of its substance abuser .
Back in the 1800s , for example , “ parking ” meant planting tree , flower , and other bits ofvegetation . A “ parking shoes , ” therefore , had nothing to do with stationary vehicles . Instead , it was a placement specifically plan to encourage diverse , extensive flora growth for non - agricultural intention .
Yet , many were presently hijack for an all different object . Historian KirkSavagewrites , “ By the turning of the one C , such parking area were sometimes used to hold horse cavalry - drawn carriages on special occasions … When machine started to overrun cities in the early 20th century , parking area were given over to car storage and the password start out to refer to the automobile themselves rather than the tree and grass they were replacing . ”
During this transitional full point , America ’s parkway alsobegan taking shape . Metropolitan reformers — who revere the wellness cost of industrial growth — started establish wooded parks within urban center nationwide , hoping their tree diagram would make urban airwave more breathable . As automobile rise in popularity , special car - favorable routes were carved through such parks . prosaically , these were name “ parkways ” .
So parkways have nothing to do with the actual parking of vehicle . But what about “ driveway ” ? Well , that particular word’sbeen aroundsince at least 1884 and has essentially meant the same thing ever since — namely , a route that connects somebody ’s secret place to a public road . However , while prolonged driveways were once the norm ( and , hence , enabled more driving ) , today ’s ordinary specimen is little more than a dinky personal parking station .
