Sunday, August 14, 2005

Whither the Cul de Sac

One might wonder what a cul de sac actually is.

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According to Wikipedia, a cul de sac is quite literally, the "bottom of a sack". An interesting place to live, don't you think?

More specifically, the cul de sac is a dead end or street with only one entrance.

Wikipedia also makes reference to criticism of the cul de sac by the New Urbanism movement. Apparently, such a residential design offers the potential for more "misbehaviour" in the street, due to the absence of passing motorists. The New Urbanism folks also seem to be concerned that the cul de sac creates isolation, discourages foot traffic and encourages increased vehicle traffic on other streets.

"Cul de Sac" is also the title of a 1966 Roman Polanski film. I haven't seen it, nor do I plan to.

My favourite usage of cul de sac is the metaphorical one noted by Wikipedia --- "a line of thought or action that leads nowhere"

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3 comments:

Miss Templeton said...

Scrolling down now. I am in awe of your decision to do a blog on life in a cul de sac.

As I mentioned before, I have nothing to sell. But I simply cannot resist mentioning two of my favorite 'suburbia' websites.

The first is Avocado Memories. It is the only website I know to be listed on the Historic Register. But then that's the California Historic Register, so anything over 2 years old is fair game.

The second is The Institute of Official Cheer, curated by J. Lileks. Politically this guy's a conservative, but D*MN! he knows his retro-style.

Please say you'll keep posting and this isn't just another one of these promising blogs that die out after a month or so! I don't think I could take much more of that.

Guy Wonders said...

Thank you for your kind comments -- almost missed them among the spam! I quite enjoyed the two suburbia links, as well.

Yes, I do know "These Are The Daves I Know"! Great song and video from the least commercially successful of the former "Kids", Bruce McCulloch...

Finally, I do intend to continue with the blog (famous last words?). It is fun and therapeutic all at the same time.

I'm still very new at this, so I'm still a bit unsure how to respond directly to a comment. In fact, I wasn't really expecting any!

Miss Templeton said...

Oh Good! Now I'll be sure to add you to my links. I do that on the weekends.

And I did like the new posting on the woman running amok.

I lived at 12 Carroll Ct. Terra Linda. We weren't actually IN the cul de sac, but those fancy two-story houses up there were always a source of deep, resentful envy.

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