I was asked a question today by a student I'm tutoring, and I was embarrassed to realize that I have no idea what the answer is.

No, not any of the legendary Dutch place names, or famous irregular street names like "Houston. He wants to know how to pronounce "West 103rd Street", and more generally, how to pronounce street numbers of three digits, when the middle digit is zero.

The number 103 as a house number or apartment number is always "one-oh-three" and not usually "a hundred and three" unless you want to speak really carefully. But I can't imagine saying anything other than "a hundred and third" for the street name.

Can you possibly stick an "oh" in there? Can you say "one-oh-seventh" for 107th? How about 207th? "Two-hundred-and-seventh" or "two-oh-seventh"?

My extremely preliminary answer to him was that you have to include the "hundred" for the streets from 101st to 109th and that you might be able to leave it out for 110th to 199th ("one-ninety-ninth").

So how do you say them, usually? And is there a difference for the 200s?

(Please try to answer without snarky remarks like "You've never heard someone north of 96th Street say their own street name? Cosseted suburbanite!" It's never too late to learn.)

It's customary to drop the "hundred".

As in "We're on one-seventy-eighth between Broadway and Amsterdam".

New Yorkers also drop the "West" and "East" when they're speaking.

It's assumed that if I tell you to meet me on 46th between Madison and Lexington, you'll know it's EAST 46th and not WEST 46th.

New York English is a bitch, aint it? I was tutoring a student on subway vocabulary, ("turnstile", "swipe", etc.) and she asked me, "But what does 'bound' mean?" As in Rockaway Parkway Bound. Not hard to explain, but never thought about it before. Triple, where do you tutor? Do you know the International Center?

I almost always say hundred.

I use the "hundred", though it usually becomes "a hundred and third" rather than "one hundered and third."

Hundred third

@Alan - That "one" to "a" switch at 120 is interesting; I did the same thing when I took a class (about a decade ago) in Japanese literature and there were many occasions to say years in the 11th century. 1001 to 1019 were "one thousand --" but 1020 and after were "a thousand --". No idea why this was!

"My grandmother said "Avenoo". Go figure."

Doesn't everybody? I thought only British people put that "y" sound after the "n" and said "avenyu".

"It's all good, as long as everyone says "Toidy-toid and toid"."

My great-grandmother (born 1899) used to call a toilet a "terlet" and say "berled in erl" and generally make "oi" sounds into "er", but my grandmothers (born 1927 and 1924) don't.

But that brings up another one: when describing an intersection, which one is said first? My instinct is that the numbered street comes first and the avenue comes second, even if the building that's on the corner has its entrance on the avenue. I lived in Kyoto a few years ago and they use cross streets as official addresses, even with the post office. There the street you're actually on always comes first, with the nearest cross street coming second. Reverse them and you'll be *on* the other street. But I'd say that the city library is on "42nd and 5th" even if the entrance is on 5th Avenue and not 42nd Street. Does anyone say the opposite, or distinguish which street is said first?

"A hundred and third street" or "one twenty sixth street." Unless giving directions to a taxi driver, in which case I clarify with "one oh three." Learned that one the hard way.

I definitely say "avenyu" and I grew up here... hmm.

NYers say the street first and avenue second (42nd and 5th) as shorthand, unless you actually need someone to find you... then it's "5th between 41st and 42nd."

Avenues before streets. The Public Library is at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

And, interestingly enough, my tough English teachers taught me that "and" is the spoken equivalent of a decimal point. So you might have $1.12 -- "one dollar and twelve cents" -- but it's technically "one hundred third street." Of course, having lived in NY for decades, I stick the "and" in all the time now.

ali

My apologies h'burg, so you did.

"Your great-grandmother, who should have soived erstahs in Greenpernt, was probably educated enough to know that it's incorrect to say goils, soivicemen and revoise ... and then extended her correction to all oy sounds, terlets and the like. At least that's my theory regarding your great-grandmother."

Alan, your theory is, in fact, the established truth. "Hypercorrection" goes in many cultures and there are other examples of it in New York too. Supposedly the distinctive pronounciation of the vowel in "coffee" and "dog" (which I still have, despite not having any of the distinctive New York-isms of a century ago) spread out from immigrants who didn't have that short "o" sound and substituted an "a" (as in "father"). Their kids didn't want to say it wrong and so over-compensated with an exaggeratedly "correct" sound.

If you get the urge to read a somewhat academic book on NY English, check out William Labov's "The Social Stratification of English in New York City". Written in the '60s, but still informative today.

"Avenues before streets."

Wrong.

Streets before Avenues.

"Because number-named avenues don't have the east/west designation."

They don't need them. Giving the avenue would make it extraneous. "43rd and Lexington" is East 43rd, since there is no Lexington that intersects WEST 43rd.

"I've never understood why there's an Independent station called (and persistently referred to as) "West 4th Street", not just "4th Street"."

ME TOO!!

I thought there wasn't any East Fourth Street. Certainly there's no North Moore Street. N Moore is actually Nathaniel Moore Street.

Speaking of tourists, it's hilarious to hear Americans in London asking the way to Oxford. We may say 84th and Lexington, but Oxford Street never loses its last name.

"Certainly there's no North Moore Street. N Moore is actually Nathaniel Moore Street.

Not so!

In particular, read the first reference from here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Moore_Street

Or here...
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/14/nyregion/fyi-112793.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

^ HA! Thanks for pinch hitting, alanhart.

"I've never understood why there's an Independent station called (and persistently referred to as) "West 4th Street", not just "4th Street". "

Let me take a guess. The signs on the poles in the subway stations (not the ones behind the platform; please tell me that the awesome mosaiced signs still stand) usually have only a number if the station is a numbered street, right? 23rd Street is "23" and 33rd is "33". It's safe to abbreviate everything but the number because there's no 23 train or 33 train -- but with 4th street, people might see just a "4" on those poles and think they're on the 4 train. Do the poles say "W 4"?

West 4th street was named to avoid confustion with the South 4th street in Brooklyn that was part of the unbuilt IND Second System expansion.

"Do the poles say "W 4"?

Yes.