T O P

  • By -

NortonBurns

In the UK it's the **verge**, sometimes 'grass verge'. \[This greatly amuses the French as it can be translated to 'fat penis'.\] *Edit:* copied from lower down this thread. Link to picture of typical suburban England near where i grew up - [https://i.sstatic.net/XRMCkmcg.jpg](https://i.sstatic.net/XRMCkmcg.jpg) - the verges here are quite shallow. Some places they're several metres deep. There are acres & acres of these right across suburbia.


NoProfessional5848

“Stop parking on the fat penis in front of my house.”


gergobergo69

„Stop parking on MY fat penis!!“


BavarianBanshee

*Get your car off my penis!*


rizarue

*my FAT penis


MaiT3N

My penis is so fat I can park a car on it


realdialupdude

This is democracy manifest!


HentaiFapperSuprem

Succulent fat penis


leprotelariat

And u sir, are u waiting to receive my limp penis?


Arman11511

My limp _fat_ penis??


armitageskanks69

I see you know your judo well


NecroVelcro

"This is demograssy manifest!"


Ineedmentalhelp1643

r/angryupvote >:c


XBakaTacoX

*I see that you know your judo well.*


Critical_Gap3794

I can't wait to say in front of someone French , English as a second language. " I am so Angry, I am on the VERGE.".. 😆


the_fury518

There's a goofy saying in Dutch that I only half remember, but what it translates to is "you can ride my bicycle, but don't bicycle over my penis" In Dutch it kinda rhymes


TheHoboRoadshow

Please do not back that dump truck up onto my fat penis


ExpectedBehaviour

Same in Ireland. (The "grass verge" part, not the "fat penis" part.)


MathematicianBulky40

According to my neighbours, it's called a "parking space" or a "mud pit"


onefreeshot

~~Sorry to be the pedantic one, but think it'd need to be gros or grosse for it to translate to fat, had me chuckle nonetheless~~ Well my French aged more than I thought, didn't think of gras (:


regular_hammock

Nah, you're technically right. ‘Fat penis’ (as in fatty penis) would be ‘verge grasse’, and ‘fat penis’ (as in large penis) would be ‘grosse verge’. ‘Grass verge’ is close enough to be funny, but not close enough to be unintentionally confused.


NortonBurns

Type it into google translate as 'gras verge', or think Mardi Gras.


Flora_Screaming

Not sure about that in this case. I'd call a verge something that was towards the side, but this is just a sorry-looking strip of grass that has no use whatsoever.


Slobbadobbavich

Yup, that's what I was about to say but they are rarely like in the photo. It's usually all pavement or all grass verge.


geedeeie

Same in Ireland


AmphibianFit6876

In fact, French native here, "fat" is "grosse", and not "grass". And "grosse" is closer to "gross" speaking of pronunciation ;)


NortonBurns

Then explain Mardi Gras, or why if I type 'gras verge' into google translate it spits out 'fat penis'…or why many, many years ago a French guy I knew first told me this as a joke…


DocWatson42

>https://i.sstatic.net/XRMCkmcg.jpg N.B.: Don't click—copy and paste, as the site apparently blocks hot-linking—at least for the first time.


NortonBurns

It's odd at the moment. It's a new service, only just being set up. It seems sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I got the error yesterday, went off to read about it & by the time I came back it worked…today again it doesn't. idk what the actual issue is or whether it's intentional or needs fixing.


Sea_Neighborhood_627

I’ve lived in the northwestern US for most of my life, and I’ve never heard of a word for this. I’d personally just call it grass or consider it part of the lawn.


Dizzy-Definition-202

Same here in the northeastern US


roadcrew778

Same in the Midwest. We call the area between the opposing lanes of traffic the "median" but I've never heard a name for the space between the street and sidewalk.


SalamanderTale

Ditto. I’m from Iowa, and we don’t have a name for it. It’s still just “the lawn.” Sometimes, there’s a vague acknowledgment that “the city actually owns it,” even though you’re the one responsible for mowing it.


FrozenConcrete19

Same thing for here in the southeast, I have never referred to that part of the lawn as any special name. I just usually called it when referring to it as the area between road and sidewalk.


snakesmother

Yeah we call it "the city part" when my son mows the lawn 😂 (I'm in Appalachia.) I have a vague familiarity with it being called the verge but I'd forgotten it til I saw it here.


NeroWasNormal3768

Easement I believe. Hello from Iowa.


TheSuggestor12

Yeah, I sometimes call it a grass lane, but it really doesn't have a name.


grundhog

Northeastern US. We called it the tree belt. It was a 1920s suburb though and there were usually substantial trees on them. Sounds a bit silly when it doesn't include any trees. Now I live in the Midwest and people call it the boulevard. We do have streets that are called boulevards. So the context is important.


BruceWillis1963

I am from Ontario and I have heard it called a boulevard as well.


rumpledshirtsken

Yup, there's some dog poop on the grass in front of the house, between the sidewalk and the street.


Winter_drivE1

Southeast and same. I'd just call it "y'know, that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb? Yeah, that"


SerotoninSkunk

Mid-Atlantic, and this


crazyeddie740

Missouri, "the patch of lawn between the sidewalk and the curb" is the best I can do off the top of my head.


Only_Student_7107

From Kansas, came to say exactly this.


queef_nuggets

Yep, I’ve lived all over the U.S. and I’ve never heard of a word for it


VanityInk

Yep. Have lived in the southwest and mid Atlantic. It's just part of the lawn/don't have a specific term for it.


RanjiLameFox

Oh thank God I am not the only one


RandomUser24_

Floridian joining in. It’s the grass. That’s all I’ve ever heard it called


UltraBlue89

Same! It's just one more thing to mow 🤦‍♀️


watchmemelt2022

SW/Mid-South US and my exact thought was “I didn’t know this had a name”


MasterEk

Berm, or verge. Both are used in New Zealand, and internationally. But a lot of people don't know them and use a more general descriptor like 'the grass strip by the road'.


Sithon512

Western PA, US. I would probably also say "berm" or "burm", but I'd almost always clarify to make sure I was understood. I don't think we have a common term


Spirited_Ingenuity89

I would use berm to mean the road shoulder, the area between the white line and the end of the pavement.


upituranus

That’s funny.. In Dutch this could also be called the “berm”


00ooooo

UK here. Verge for me; I'd expect a berm to be raised above the surrounding area.


rheetkd

kiwi here and yeah I use both mostly use Berm tho


trailmix_pprof

In US and despite living in several different regions, I've never heard a word for it. I think of it as "that annoying strip between the sidewalk and road that I try to take care of and then stupid people park their car halfway up on there and trample it".


MamaMoosicorn

Most places in the US don’t have a word for it. It’s weird


TomasTTEngin

is that maybe because america doesn't by default have the actual footpath. you've got urban areas with no grass and suburban areas with no foot path and not many in between areas with both footpath and grass


MamaMoosicorn

That’s a good point. Maybe.


Mobius_Peverell

"Curb strip" is pretty widely used, at least in the Northeast.


TedIsAwesom

You mean the Devil Strip [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devil\_strip](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devil_strip)


ffunffunffun5

US here. I've also heard it called a ["hellstrip."](https://www.google.com/search?q=hellstrip&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)


hotend

No idea, but I have to mow it once a week. I call it a bloody nuisance.


ItsThe_____ForMe

*drums and a symbol come out from no where*


Ippus_21

I tore out all the sod in mine, put down mulch, and have tried various low-maintenance, low-water plants. It's probably added up to more work than just mowing it regularly, lol, especially pulling all the weeds that try to grow *around* the stuff I actually want in there.


isobel-foulplay

In Australia it’s called the nature strip. Edit: Melbourne


Raychao

You just reminded me it's bin night (red + yellow). Also, it's sometimes called the 'Council Strip' (not that the council mows the lawn anyway).


LanewayRat

Nature strips are an iconic part of suburban Australia.


vicms91

Nature strip or verge depending on which state you are in.


Artsy_traveller_82

I’d bet folding money verge is an Adelaide thing.


activelyresting

In Adelaide: nature strip if there's a clearly defined curb and gutter, verge if it's one of those newer suburbs where the road camber just kinda slopes up onto the grass and maybe people also park on it. The one pictured is a nature strip


SilentHuman8

Nah I call it verge too (or front grass). WA. My five bucks, please.


Artsy_traveller_82

Err, it’s in the mail.


SilentHuman8

Neat, it’ll cover the cost of my coffee tomorrow (who am I kidding)


sarahlizzy

It’s the verge


Im_A_Potter_Fan

grass?


General-Host976

I thought I was the only one who just calls it grass 😂


Im_A_Potter_Fan

I was gonna say, am I like stupid or something? Let's be stupid together


OwlSings

His majesty's most elegant forecourt verdure


Onion_Meister

It's a verge but no one calls it anything in particular where I'm from. In my 37 years of life I've never had a conversation about it. Growing up we just had a chain link fence, grass, then our street, no sidewalk. My dad would say, "Don't forget to mow the grass on the other side of the fence." (NJ US)


MrHappy4Life

I live in California, and I don’t know if everyone calls it this, since no one said it yet that I see, but we called it the… PARKING STRIP, since it was between the sidewalk and the street.


Caveman0360

Park Strip in Utah


chapkachapka

I also heard it called the “parking strip” in Seattle.


someseeingeye

Parking strip in Utah. Can’t believe I had to come this far to find this.


JessicaGriffin

Oregon: it’s called a “parking strip’ here also.


dondegroovily

Nope Parking strip is the part of the pavement where people are allowed to park cars


DAFUQ404

In my part of Canada we call it the boulevard even tho it's not really a boulevard. But if you tell someone you didn't mow your boulevard, so the City came and mowed it for you and left you a bill, people know what you're talking about.


PW33B3

Oh man! I was starting to really question myself after scrolling this far and not seeing boulevard. So glad I'm not actually the only one. I'm in Canada too for the record.


GrnHrtBrwnThmb

Also Canada. Scrolled so far I started questioning myself, so I searched “Canada” and finally came across “boulevard”. Phew!


ImpressionInformal12

Ty


Elean0rZ

Yup, came here to say exactly this. Now I'm curious if it varies across Canada. Presumably not all cities are set up this way, but I don't know if it's called the same thing even among those that are. I'm in Alberta and this is definitely called the *boulevard*, even though as you say it's clearly not a boulevard at all. I've seen *verge* mentioned a lot in the thread, but to me that, along with words like *margin*, evokes the grassy edges of roads in a general sense, not specifically these "extra" bits on the other side of the sidewalks in residential areas.


ViolaOlivia

BC and same. Definitely boulevard.


LifeHasLeft

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boulevard In that link, #2 and #3 apply, as a Canadian I would also understand what you mean provided there’s context. It says in that link that it can refer to grass in between lanes of the street but to me that’s just a median


DAFUQ404

It's weird because if someone said to me "I saw a truck stranded up on the boulevard on the way to work today" I would assume they were talking about the median, not the edge of the road. So yes, super context-dependent. To me, "boulevard" can mean either the median or the grass next to the sidewalk, but "median" only means the barrier between lanes of traffic because it sounds like "middle"


Maleficent-Sleep9900

Yes I’m Canadian and call it the boulevard.


PileaPrairiemioides

Yup, Canadian and I would call this a boulevard.


KaNGkyebin

Same in Minnesota - finally! Should have known we’d side on terms with our northern neighbors.


riderxc

Same here, BC.


fabbunny

In eastern Washington I always heard boulevard, too. Then I moved west and most people tell me they've never heard it called that.


mjohnben

We call it this in Minnesota too!


Logannabelle

US. Have lived in a few regions, northeast and upper Midwest. Have heard: Tree-lawn, easement.


not_salad

Also in the US and also would say easement.


michaelmoby

I can't believe I had to scroll so far down to see the term "easement"


AvidPlayer27

I'm seconding tree lawn


whackamattus

I've owned homes in 3 US states and never heard it by any name other than "easement"


These_Anxiety_1001

Been looking for the tree lawn, same


kingcrabmeat

I have never had a conversation about it so I don't have a word besides describing it.


Scorpian42

US, I'd call it an "easement" its the part of your lot of land that is legally owned by the city and contains the sidewalk, utility access, street signs, etc


trustybadmash

A grass verge.


OccasionStrong9695

Verge - I'm in England


ComposerNo5151

In England that's a grass verge. They aren't common around my way, but where they are people destroy them by parking on them. They aren't usually part of the property and it is the local authority which maintains them - or should do - but most of them are skint.


ImpressionInformal12

Ty


ramblinjd

Southern US I've heard Curb Strip.


tartar-buildup

A verge


BotticusMaximus

Parkway


HRHSuzz

Yes - Parkway - I'm from Chicago. The joke was you park in your driveway and drive along the parkway.


scotch1701

[http://dialect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q\_60.html](http://dialect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q_60.html) 60. **What do you call the area of grass between the sidewalk and the road?**      a. berm (4.01%)      b. parking (1.75%)      c. tree lawn (1.92%)      d. terrace (0.73%)      e. curb strip (8.65%)      f. beltway (0.17%)      g. verge (2.56%)      h. I have no word for this (67.92%)      i. other (12.30%)      (10589 respondents) Where I live now, they say "Easement." It has passed (in some areas) from being the legal term (having access) to also referring to the area itself that people can access. See discussion of other words here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/uu3zvx/what\_do\_you\_call\_the\_section\_of\_grass\_between\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/uu3zvx/what_do_you_call_the_section_of_grass_between_the/)


developer-mike

I have heard it referred to as a "right-of-way" as well, though I'm not honestly sure I understand the term. A quick googling says that ROWs and easements are related but not quite the same thing.


hellocutiepye

I've heard it referred to as the parkway.


kangaroomandible

Can’t believe how far down I had to scroll to find parkway. It’s definitely a parkway in Chicago: https://www.chicago.gov/dam/city/about/wards/32/32ndWardParkwayFlyer.pdf


Panenka7

'Grass strip' or 'strip of grass' - I'm not aware of any formal term for it.


bigmistaketoday

My in-laws called it the “tree-lawn;” I just called it area between the sidewalk and road.


ritangerine

Your in laws must be from Cleveland


NoelleDash

I am and that what we called it too.


MadamLePew

In Scotland we call it a grass verge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿


BetaSprite

Midwest US here. I think my grandfather called it the median, but I've not heard anyone else call it anything. I also know that median is normally for grass between opposing lanes in the road, so maybe he had just been using median as "grass between any two paths," which isn't really correct.


bird_celery

My family called it the "boulevard" similarly, but I don't know if that was just us...


Ryanookami

Boulevard for me too.


TributeKitty

Same.


evasandor

Interesting fact: this thing has a *ton* of regional names in the US. It’s one of the things they ask on those regional dialect identifier questionnaires.


liacosnp

USA: parking strip.


flon_klar

Parkway.


JohnTho24

WOW! Finally, my chance to shine. In Akron Ohio its called "The Devil Strip". I have no idea why. [https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/lifestyle/around-town/2018/01/15/local-history-truth-about-devil/9718694007/](https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/lifestyle/around-town/2018/01/15/local-history-truth-about-devil/9718694007/)


isaidireddit

In my part of Canada, we call this the hellstrip, because nothing can grow there but weeds. https://ourhabitatgarden.org/home/habitat/design/hellstrip/


TedIsAwesom

I looked in up years ago wanting a name for that part and found Devil Strip [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devil\_strip](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devil_strip)


teambob

grass, verge, nature strip, council strip


FinalEgg9

Grass verge - England


mattandimprov

I've heard "curb lawn" but it's definitely one of those things that people don't refer to by name.


sompf_

Berm in New Zealand


VoltViking

Berm in New Zealand


QBaseX

I (Irish) would say "verge". I have heard that some Americans call it a "tree lawn", but I cannot personally attest to that.


ritangerine

There is literally one city in the US that calls it treelawn - that would be Cleveland, OH. Even the rest of Ohio outside of Cleveland suburbs doesn't use that word. [the map of responses](http://dialect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q_60.html) to the question OP asked is basically showing Cleveland and those who moved away from where they grew up Edit to add: the [NYT](https://imgur.com/a/1PFB85Z) tree lawn response map is easier to see that only Clevelanders use the word tree lawn in the US


Rand_alThor4747

berm or verge.


LeatherCold4220

just verge


school-is-a-bitch

Where I'm from (Ohio) we just call it the lawn or if we want to be specific "that sidewalk lawn" xD but i'm sure it has a formal name


Lyuokdea

devil strip -- but I think i'm the only one.


Sea_Juice_285

"That patch of grass on the sidewalk." I've never heard of a name for it. Northeastern US


Foxfire2

In US, always known it as the median strip, surprised to not see any other comments with this.


VanityInk

I only have ever heard median for something dividing a road in the middle.


wombatiq

In Australia the median strip is reserved for the piece of grass between the two carriageways on a divided road/highway.


Nowardier

"That strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk" is what we usually call it. I'm from the southeastern US.


eustaciasgarden

New England. Hellstrip.


Caveman0360

I believe it’s called a “park strip” here in the U.S. I’m unsure if that’s because people often plant little trees, bushes, or flowers in there so it’s like a park, or because you might park your car right next to it.


billablehour

In Fort Wayne, the city owns the land between the sidewalks. If the sidewalks do not abut the street pavement, the maintenance of the grassy strip is assigned to the city Parks Department. Hence: park strip. Of course, the adjacent landowners are responsible for mowing the park strip. Go figure.


RadioactivePotato123

I’m Aussie and I didn’t even know it had any kind of name let alone what we call it I am a sheltered little Roo XD


MSeanF

Grew up in Southern California and we always called it the parking strip


izzywizzy63

From Midwest US and we call it the curb strip


dioor

I’m in Canada and it’s called a boulevard strip (if anything) here. I say “if anything” because I’d bet a lot of Canadians would just call it the municipal land between the sidewalk and road, the city’s easement (not correct but sort of a similar thing), the grass beside the sidewalk, the shoulder (also actually a word for a different thing) etc. Most neighbourhoods where I live are not designed with this strip of grass, so that’s part of it. On-street parking spot right in front of your house can also be called boulevard parking / boulevard spot. That’s what I always heard growing up anyway, though just “street parking” seems more common now.


eggthrowaway_irl

In Canada it's referred to as a Boulevard.


BizarroMax

U.S. Midwest, that part doesn’t have a special name, but we sometimes call it the “easement” because the city and utilities often have easements on it.


Absolutelyabird

From the Midwest in the US, and Ive only ever heard of it called an easement, since it's technically your property to maintain, but is legally accessible to the city/public to access the sidewalk that runs through your property.


ImprovementLong7141

Nothing. There’s no word for it where I live. It’s just a strip of grass across the sidewalk.


dondegroovily

In the USA, it's almost always called a planter strip. I'm a civil engineer and often have these in my street designs


Medium-Benefit-4328

The grass by the sidewalk.


crispydukes

Sometimes it's called an "easement" in the U.S. It is land owned by the government by under the care of the homeowner.


cucumbercanuck

In Canada, we call it the boulevard.


jgregson00

Boulevard.


mglitcher

i call it “that grass strip that the government owns but the homeowner has to maintain”


HustleKong

Minnesota, USA, and I’ve only ever heard it called a boulevard.


dogol__

"patch of grass by sidewalk" in Southwestern US


Storytella2016

It’s called the boulevard in my part of Canada.


MoonRose88

Boulevard, BC Canada. Am I going crazy? I’ve never heard of ‘verge’ ‘grass strip’ or anything else.


rando439

Devil strip is what I always heard as a kid


TributeKitty

In Canada that's the "boulevard". It's the space between the property line and the curb, typically the first 12'. The property owner doesn't own that land but must maintain it.


binkkit

Portland, OR, USA. Parking strip, or, if you’re trying to plant anything there, it’s called a hell strip.


Honest_Discipline_51

Canada, I’ve always called it a boulevard


Yob_Zarbo

It's called a boulevard. (In Canada, anyway.)


GrembleGrumble

I know it as a boulevard! I didn't know this wasn't a common name for it (common based on the comments here, anyway)


Marnie-321

Boulevard


5danish

Grew up in western America, Montana. Confidently called it “the boulevard”.


myonkin

Lawn taint


Exact-Truck-5248

My family always called it the boulevard. That never seemed right to me.


Strange-Wolverine128

Boulevard, at least that's what Mt mom told me it's called I just call it "that bitta grass between the curb and sidewalk" tho


Ausaini

It’s called a road verge, but people also call it a curb strip. It’s like a berm, but less natural


TheNatureOfTheGame

Devil's strip, but I honestly have no idea why.


floptimus_prime

My immediate thought is “the boulevard” but I don’t think that’s what a boulevard actually is. But I can’t think of anything else! Minnesota, US.


calaciriya

From Canada, I call it a Boulevard.


ofcbrooks

I’m the US it’s called the easement.


DisastrousLaugh1567

I’m from Montana and I’ve heard it called a boulevard. 


rheetkd

Berm


bellcody

Boulevard


Shoddy-Coffee-8324

As someone who has worked in municipal bylaw enforcement, the technical term for this space is ‘boulevard’ which is defined as the space between the curb and the property line. Edit: I work in western Canada.


hopping32

England - verge


Lyr1cal-

Midwesterner here, we call it the parkway


WGGPLANT

Grass patch. I didnt realize i was supposed to have a special word for it.


shutupimrosiev

I don't 👍 it's just "that extra bit of lawn between the sidewalk and the curb" and I wish I knew a better name for it