Why drive parkway park driveway

So, you would be able to spend a lovely time driving your carriage along a parkway. Looking Back: Ever wonder where the Chevy Colorado came from? Driveway, though , started a little before that, and actually referred to what you did on it rather than its location. Driveways were paths for driving, and typically ran alongside barns so that wagons could drive up, unload or offload cargo, and go along their way. Eventually, driveways became handy places to park your vehicles, and as suburbs appeared the driveway became the primary spot to stow the family car.

George Carlin, the late comedian, often poked fun at English, and in doing so, highlighted another one of these contradictions: why do we park on the driveway but drive on the parkway?

The word 'parkway' originally referred to a broad road through a park. Like 'driveway', it predates the invention of the car. First, a defining of terms. A driveway is "a private road giving access from a public way to a building on abutting grounds," and in America, we tend to park our cars in the driveway since driveways typically come right alongside one's house.

A parkway , on the other hand, is "a broad, landscaped highway. In short: we don't drive on driveways, and we don't park on parkways. What gives? English is secretly serpentine: what looks like a straight line between words sometimes isn't. That's the case with with both driveway and parkway.

Both words came into written use in the s, long before cars were even a glimmer in Henry Ford's eye. Parkway originally referred to a broad road through a park:. The most important improvement made of late in the general plan of cities has been the introduction or increase in number and breadth of parkways.

So there's the connection between parks and parkway , but why do we drive on them? I've always been fascinated by these two words, as they seem to have the exact opposite meaning as expected. Is it because of the etymology? Or perhaps the meanings were switched at some point in time? So a driveway originally was a path that you drove on. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why do you drive on a "parkway", and park on a "driveway"? Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 9 months ago. Active 7 years, 4 months ago. Viewed 8k times.