Let me start by saying I am a grammar absolutist. Not a relativist. (Nor a nihilist.) There is a right way, and a wrong way, to pronounce something, no matter where you live. Roof, not "rough." Oregon, not "Or-e-gone." And it's Prescott, not "Pres-kitt."
Now, I don't expect to enact change with this one because it's so ingrained in most locals, but I feel it's worth bringing up. Near as I can tell it's a California thing that sort of spread here, but what's the deal with Arizonans putting definite articles in front of numbered freeways? I have lived in this state longer than I haven't, and it never sounded right. It never became grammatically correct either.
Even some folks who came here from another region have picked up on this mistake. Whereas they used to take 287, to Route 1, to get to work, they now take "the 51 to the 10." For people who once had it right, only to come here and be convinced to speak incorrectly, the mistake is even more egregious.
Oh well. I guess it's just one of those little things that doesn't truly matter for anything in life, yet if you focus on it too much it will drive you crazy.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to be getting to the work, which is just located just off of the 24th Street and the Camelback Road.
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