Why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway?

Besides the previously mentioned stand-up comedians reason, here is the answer from The Straight Dope website:

Let's get one thing cleared up right off the bat: you can drive on the driveway. Indeed, if you'll permit me to wax philosophical for a moment, this is the very essence of drivewayness--to enable you to drive from the street to your garage. Moreover, you can park on the parkway, if you're willing to risk the wrath of the law. I don't know that this clarifies things much, but it seemed like a point worth making.

I think the crux of the issue, however--I love using words like crux--is the dual meaning of "park."

Park in the sense of tended greenery and park in the sense of stowing your vehicle, though deriving from the same root, diverged in meaning long ago. In Old French, a parc was an enclosure. To this day a military park means an area where vehicles are stored and serviced. As early as 1812 there was a verb "to park," meaning to store one's howitzers in a military park. This carried over to carriages and ultimately to any sort of vehicle.

Our notion of landscaped parks, meanwhile, derives from the medieval practice of enclosing game preserves for the use of the aristocracy. The term was later applied to the grounds around a country estate, then to royal parks in London to which the proles were grudgingly admitted, and finally to any landscaped public grounds. The idea of enclosure is still evident in expressions like "ball park," for an enclosed playing field. Any more questions, smart stuff?


Here is their website

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_080.html

Let's examine this logicially. First let's define the words.

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PARKWAY: Dictionary Entry and Meaning

Definition: [n] a wide scenic road planted with trees

So a parkway is a road planted with trees to resemble a park-like setting.

You drive along the parkway to view the scenery.

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DRIVEWAY: Dictionary Entry and Meaning

Definition: [n] a road leading up to a private house

A driveway is a road leading up to a private house.

So if you don't stop the car and park it you'll hit the house.

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Hence, we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway.

I hope this explains it for you.

Definitions came from this site: http://www.hyperdictionary.com

The driveway was actually ment for driving for its design. Driveways were first designed to drive by or breeze through the way when driving. Of course, the parking was added in this later in time.

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+5

Ever since that whole Renaissance thing we've just had trouble getting both cylinders to fire! Send linguists, mechanics, and love!

Why are you Screaming in all CAPS?

Why are apartments called such when they are so close together? The world may never know.

Lack of common sense w/ someone.

you have a difficult dilemma here to work out dear DillaDolla26. i am guessing that the drive way suggests you drive onto the drive but i do not understand what you mean by park way???? i am from england we do not call it that here.

And why do we drive on a "parkway"?

Parking in your drive way is an efficient utilization of garage space for something other than car storage. In California heavy traffic often makes "parkway" an apt description.

Because we have a confusing language.

That's awesome That's like why is their brail on a drive thru atm machine.

To give standup comics more material?
There is probably not a good answer to this question. It's just one of the oddities of the English language. All languages have these humorous and sometimes poetic peculiarities, but I suspect that English, particularly American English, is particularly prone to these, because it is so heavily derivative of other languages.

They do that only in America. Elsewhere you drive up the driveway, to get from the street to the house or whatever the building is.

same reason your feet smell and your nose runs

lol

Why do we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?



Driveway and Parkway

From what I understand, 'way' means 'road'. So a driveway is a road that you drive on, typically either to the street or your garage. A parkway is a road through or to a park. Usually parkways are landscaped, or beautified, with medians or trees along the edges.

Park comes from an old word (parc I think) meaning something enclosed. Generally fancy landscaped areas in the old days were enclosed to keep the riff-raff out, and started being called parks....the name stuck. The military enclosed the places they stored their vehicles (wagons and such, up to modern stuff) and called them 'parks' as well. They began referring to storing their vehicles as 'parking' them. The term started applying to any vehicle sometime around just after the war of 1812 and gained popularity into WW2, and stuck. It just lost the meaning of 'enclosed'. When so many military veterans continued using the phrase when they became civilians, it became standard.

Driveways and Parkways

This question is not as random as you think. Driveways were initially much longer, leading from the road back to the main house on the property. So initially people really did drive on them. The word parkway was used to describe a well developed thoroughfare, complete with trees, grassy divided medians and other landscaping, thus the "park" in the name.

Here are more opinions and answers from other WikiAnswers Contributors:

* I think this is a linguistic quirk incorporated into contemporary English as a direct result of an old George Carlin skit. But, I could be wrong.

* Partly because English is one of the most free-for-all languages in the world, with fewer rules and more borrowed words than just about any other tongue. Besides the driveway conundrum: 1) The plural of foot is feet, but the plural of boot is boots (beet??), 2) A vegetable farmer is a person whose job is to produce produce, 3) Your nose can run and your feet can smell, 4) "In action" and "inaction" are opposites, 5) You can be overwhelmed, but not whelmed, 6) "Plague" has one syllable but "ague" has two, 7) "ghoti" can be pronounced "fish" (see George Bernard Shaw), 8) "ough" has at least five different pronunciations, 9) its, hers, yours, ours and theirs are the only possessives that do NOT take apostrophes and on and on and on.

Answer

We will understand this when we figure out why Frosted Flakes have frosting, but pitted prunes DON'T have pits...

the same reason we call delivery by car a shipment, and delivery by ship is called cargo. go figure. by the way, why is it a hot water heater , you dont need to heat hot water

G'day Nene1234,

Thank you for your question.

I think that it is a subtle intelligence test and that people who park on the parkway end up losing their license. :>)

Regards

Plenty of answers are provided here: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/7027

Because a driveway implies a space to drive where normally there would not be one(i.e. your front yard) whereas a parkway is a place where they saw the need to make a way to drive, but didn't want to strip the area of vegetation to make an EXPRESSWAY, so they pave typically a two-lane road, and dress it up nicely with landscaping to resemble a park.

it is in the Torah.

I persoanlly park *on* the driveway, unless it has been partially excavated. In which case I would opt to park on the roadside next to my house.

And I drive on the road, not a parkway.

But both these points are currently moot, since my car is without engine at this moment in time.

Because parkways aree how you get to parks and driveways are how you get up to you house.

Not sure... maybe the answer can justify:

Why Interstate Highways are in Hawaii

Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?

Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?

Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

If you can't drink and drive, why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor, and why do bars have parking lots?

If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?

Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?

A parkway is named to make reference to parks (central 'park') while a driveway is named to describe 'the portion of one's property intended for the navigation of one's automobile'

For the same reason we have Jumbo Shrimp and put cargo on a ship and a shipment on a truck.

I don't know,but good question! points for you!

Why is there an Interstate highway in Hawaii???

It's a complete mystery.

Yes, indeed, why is that!?? a very thought provoking question!
I’ve no idea!!!!

Why are all your questions tired duplicates?

I think this is a linguistic quirk incorporated into contemporary English as a direct result of an old George Carlin skit.

Partly because English is one of the most free-for-all languages in the world, with fewer rules and more borrowed words than just about any other tongue.

Besides the driveway conundrum: 1) The plural of foot is feet, but the... Read more plural of boot is boots (beet??), 2) A vegetable farmer is a person whose job is to produce produce, 3) Your nose can run and your feet can smell, 4) "In action" and "inaction" are opposites, 5) You can be overwhelmed, but not whelmed, 6) "Plague" has one syllable but "ague" has two, 7) "ghoti" can be pronounced "fish" (see George Bernard Shaw), 8) "ough" has at least five different pronunciations, 9) its, hers, yours, ours and theirs are the only possessives that do NOT take apostrophes and on and on and on.

The same reason asteroids are in space and hemmoroids are in..........well, you get the picture

well thats like Iceland and Greenland. Greenland is covered in snow and ice and Iceland is green and pretty. it was to confuse the people buying the land. lol. so there must be some kind of reason.

Oh I've driven on drive ways, but not for long. And when I park on parkways the cops usually give me such a hassle.

the person who came up with these just wanted to mess with us. i hope they are having fun in hell

During rush hour we actually park on the parkway,and drive to park in our driveways.

because America is backwards ass

Yeah, old George Carlin.

You may do that in America, but we Brits are not so crazy.

I have no idea... but excellent question!

Ssame as why in Australia you pay a toll on the freeways!

Because! That's why....lol

We drive on parkways?

Thats a good question but its making my head hurt! :)

same reason there are hemroids on you A$$ and asteriods in space

same reason there are hemroids on your ass and asteriods in space

I don't think we've got any "parkways" in my town, although it is true that we do park in driveways. Still, it's a good question.

I don't know but someone is listening to Pete Seegers english is crazy