When my previous employer moved to its new location, I was one among many lamenting the lack of nearby retail. Our old location was in the thick of a suburban downtown so we had roughly 81 coffee shops and 238 restaurants within a 5 minute walk. It was glorious.
The new location has almost nothing nearby. But that’s not entirely the building’s fault: a few coworkers spoke of a sandwich shop that was “just across the street” and great. However it had closed. Funny, because whenever I look out the windows of the building I see condos and apartments… but no sandwich shop.
Today I saw it, though, on the way in. The sandwich shop is four blocks away.
I’m not sure how that constitutes “just across the street”. Four blocks away is not just across the street. I define four blocks away as being, ohidontknow, just down the street.
For “just across the street”, it’s one block – tops. And that’s pushing it.
Posted in Everyday Life
Terry M. February 17, 2007, 1:59 am
Paul is correct. Where I grew up my entire universe was 4 or 5 city blocks, and if it wasn’t directly in front of the house (even, if it was on the corner of the same block), it certainly wasn’t “just across the street”. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest, I was told that there was a grocery store across the street from the apartment complex – a big selling point for me because at the time I didn’t have a car. I felt defrauded when I found out it was actually a 15 minute walk – up a very long hill, and then way on the corner of a lo-o-ng “block”. Nowadays I live just across the street (in the classical sense) from the office where I work, yet I still drive. Yes, I am part of the problem, but at least I have the chutzpah to admit it.
Adam March 7, 2007, 1:16 am
I agree, “just across the street” means you can look out the window and see it without looking DOWN the street.
Now, “just down the street” is one that I also hear overused. Just down the street is often be used to describe something that is a 20-minute car ride away.
Just across the street – you can literally cross the street to get to it
Just down the street – if you can’t walk it, it’s just a short bike ride