Keeping Street Names Straight
Hey Johnston: Every day I see ads from stores along Northup Way that spell the street as "Northrup" Way. And anyone I ever hear pronounce it says "North-RUP," not "North-UP."
What's the correct spelling and pronunciation? Am I the only person who spells it right, and is everyone else just plain stupid?
ANSWER: Of course you are correct, and all those other people are just plain stupid. The correct spelling is "Northup," and it is pronounced "North-UP." But people still say "North-RUP" and spell it that way.
Actually, the city officials who began calling the street Northrup Way were naming it after the Northup family. They just got it wrong.
The Northups were a pioneer family who lived around Yarrow Point in the 1870s. A post office and school were named Northup, but when the street signs went up, they read "Northrup."
In the 1970s, the Northup descendants pointed out the spelling error. The City Council voted to change the signs to the correct spelling. That was done about 1975 or so.
But some businesses still list addresses on "Northrup" Way. Fortunately, the post office can figure it out.
Hey Johnston: US West advertises on TV that from a pay phone you can call anywhere in Western Washington and can talk for as long as you want for only a dollar. When I call my sister in Redmond it costs me $3 to talk for a half-hour. At a pay phone you use their equipment; at my home I use my equipment. Why do I have to subsidize
pay-phone service?
ANSWER: The name of the game is competition, and US West is losing too much money to other pay-phone companies. US West's Harry Grandstrom said the phone company figures it can recapture some of that market by offering one-price-for-all-calls rate.
When you pick up a pay phone, you don't know what you will be charged when making a long-distance call because there are 40 to 50 pay-phone companies. But Grandstrom says people will know when they use a US West pay phone it will cost a buck for unlimited time.
Grandstrom says US West is doing an eight-month trial on the $1 call rate at its 19,000 pay phones in this area.
Hey Johnston: Why does The Seattle Times in the Vital Statistic obituaries repeat the names, dates and ages like they died twice? Is there a hiccup in the system? It's no big deal, but it's kind of weird.
ANSWER: And we thought it was weird that The Times was able to get people to die in alphabetical order.
It turns out the problem is too many lists. The Seattle-King County Health Department compiles a daily list, and it's stored in some massive computer at The Times.
Sometimes, through the miracle of computers, the same list is inadvertently picked up twice. It won't happen again, promise the Big Cheese Heads at The Times.
How to Just Ask Johnston: This column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Local News section of the Eastside edition. Leave your questions on Steve Johnston's voice mail at 464-8475. The e-mail address is east@seatimes.com. Or write: Just Ask Johnston, c/o The Seattle Times, 10777 Main St., Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98004.