Re: Why does Debian have code names for releases?
On Mon 03 Jul 2023 at 12:14:11 (+0100), debian-user@howorth.org.uk wrote:
> Nicolas George <george@nsup.org> wrote:
> > Roger Price (12023-07-03):
> > > Exactly my point that inanimate objects of which there are many
> > > examples are best known by numbers. Numbers so well known that
> > > songs are written about the number: historic US 66 [1], and in
> > > France the historic N7 [2], a vacation highway.
> >
> > And you know which one is the N6 or the N8? Or the US route 65 or 67?
>
> No but I live in the UK and I know the A1, A2, A4, A5, A6 and many
> others, plus the M1, M4, M5, M6.
>
> > The objects that are by their number are the exception, not the rule.
>
> There are roads whose 'numbers' I don't know but I don't know the
> 'names' of any of them except for rare exceptions such as 'the Great
> North Road'. But road numbers are mostly just labels, although there is
> a kind of system for allocating them.
Yes, I think they decided to number all the roads about the time that
WW1 broke out, so the system was implemented in the 1920s. Most of the
A/B roads don't have a corresponding name, though there are exceptions
like the A4202, which is much better known as Park Lane. Even the ones
that did have a name in the past have been so realigned that the
(stable) old names are now paired with segments bearing a variety of
new numbers, eg, Watling St is now the B5404 through Fazeley.
Where these classified roads enter towns, locals will typically use
the more memorable road and street names rather than the numbers,
which often get renumbered when bypasses are built, or road
improvements lead to wholesale rerouting. In any case, a single
numbered road is likely to have at least two street names in a town
of any size, one at each end. I can't think of an instance where the
road number is used as part of a street address.
Cheers,
David.
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