I have a question about Harry Potter/England

[conuly]

In book 5, it says that Sirius' house (number 12) is in between numbers 11 and 13. Is this normal for England? In the US, streets are all even on one side, and all odd on the other, so number 12 would be in between 10 and 14, not 11 and 13.

Comments

[doyoudream.livejournal.com]

IT happens. lol

[stejcruetekie.livejournal.com]

Just to nit-pick... While it's common to have odd/even numbered sides in the US, it's by no means a sure thing. I can't think of any specific instances, but I know there have been plenty of times where the houses are just numbered more or less sequentially.

But then, that beats say Hong Kong, where number 12 might be next to number 327...

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Wow. I have never seen that in the States. I live on a cul-de-sac, but it still follows the conventions.

BTW, Japan also has maddeningly disjointed and utterly illogical addressing policies! :-)

Also, the neighbourhood in Los Angeles where I live is actually an incorporated city of its own, and it is 46% Chinese. You would be amazed at how many people petition to get their house numbers changed, in order to have numerologically-beneficial house numbers. 8 is VERY popular, and the city will allow that, so there are houses with interesting 8-related numbers. But I have never NOTICED an even being on the odd side, That of course doesn't mean it's impossible. :-)

Also, the area is loaded with customized license plates with multiple 8s. :-)

[conuly]

But then, that beats say Hong Kong, where number 12 might be next to number 327...

THat could happen in the US too. At least, in NY the numbers aren't completely sequential, they have something to do with lots. So if your house is on the space of TWO lots, there'll be a null between you and the next house (so 12 would be between 10 and 16, maybe), so that if the house is torn down later they can build two new houses there without having to turn to phrases like "12.5" or 12 B"

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

I know that in small towns they won't bother with the even-odd rule. So a town of 200 people might have houses numbered 1-100 and all in whatever order they like.. small towns are often an exception, I find. ^_^

[marveen.livejournal.com]

I thought the whole point of it being between 11 and 13 was that it was magically hidden and on the "wrong" side of the road besides.

[conuly]

But wouldn't that mean there's another, NONmagical number 12 on the other side?

[thornleaf.livejournal.com]

I suspect the magic, hidden house answer is correct... but I've seen the numbering done like that on cul-de-sacs.

I don't recall Sirius living on one of those, though.

Sometimes I use my useless trivia knowledge for good!

[thren0dy.livejournal.com]

I believe in the UK that they do indeed number houses on one side 1, 2, 3, etc. - and the only reason I know this is from a compliation of The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com) articles I have. I have a weird memory for useless trivia. It was mentioned in an article about the Prime Minister's house (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_433.html).

The neighborhood also isn't what you could call overcrowded. Number 10 is one of only three remaining houses on Downing, the other two being numbers 11 and 12 (all of which adjoin--having even and odd numbers on opposite sides of the street is an American practice).

Re: Sometimes I use my useless trivia knowledge for good!

[conuly]

Thanks, I was wondering.

How does that work, though? Does it go 1-15 on one side of the street, for one block, and the other side goes 16-30 for a block? Or does one side go all the way through to 1000, and then the other side starts at 1001?

Re: Sometimes I use my useless trivia knowledge for good!

[missfahrenheit.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I have explored a fair amount of Kent and the Medway towns (and SW London, now- I get lost a lot) and I have never seen a street that doesn't have odd numbers on one side and even on the other, and would probably have been surprised to see anything different. I mean, I know there are some places where houses are numbered like that, but I don't think I've actually seen any myself. It tends to happen more when there are only houses on one side of the road, or something like that.

Grimmauld Place always put me in mind of a sort of square (is that canon or me jumping to conclusions?), and I assumed the houses would have been numbered in a clockwise pattern and no 12 just... wouldn't have been there most of the time. Of course, the magical argument above is excellent :)

[deceptica]

I wouldn't say that it's an exclusively American practice... here it's done the same way.

[the-lady-aurora.livejournal.com]

The house where I grew up was number 63 but the house to the left was number 20 because it fell into a new road. The house opposite was number 150 which was next to number 21. Again, number 21 was in the same raod as number 20 but 150 was in our road. The odds went to the right and then, when they got so far, they became a new road. The evens then started on the opposite side and worked their way back towards the top.

Where I live now, we don't have house numbers just names and not everyone displays their house name easily. Plus, I live in Wales and most of the house names are really hard to pronounce or remember even if you see them :0)

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

In Berlin, the numbers start going continuously down one side of the street, then back up the other side. The streets are generally fairly short (by which I mean a continuous street changes names), so it works.

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

This is SO aggravating. The same (continuous) street can end up with a different name every time it is crossed by another street sometimes! Makes navigation extremely difficult, if one is not a local...

[doyoudream.livejournal.com]

IT happens. lol

[stejcruetekie.livejournal.com]

Just to nit-pick... While it's common to have odd/even numbered sides in the US, it's by no means a sure thing. I can't think of any specific instances, but I know there have been plenty of times where the houses are just numbered more or less sequentially.

But then, that beats say Hong Kong, where number 12 might be next to number 327...

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Wow. I have never seen that in the States. I live on a cul-de-sac, but it still follows the conventions.

BTW, Japan also has maddeningly disjointed and utterly illogical addressing policies! :-)

Also, the neighbourhood in Los Angeles where I live is actually an incorporated city of its own, and it is 46% Chinese. You would be amazed at how many people petition to get their house numbers changed, in order to have numerologically-beneficial house numbers. 8 is VERY popular, and the city will allow that, so there are houses with interesting 8-related numbers. But I have never NOTICED an even being on the odd side, That of course doesn't mean it's impossible. :-)

Also, the area is loaded with customized license plates with multiple 8s. :-)

[conuly]

But then, that beats say Hong Kong, where number 12 might be next to number 327...

THat could happen in the US too. At least, in NY the numbers aren't completely sequential, they have something to do with lots. So if your house is on the space of TWO lots, there'll be a null between you and the next house (so 12 would be between 10 and 16, maybe), so that if the house is torn down later they can build two new houses there without having to turn to phrases like "12.5" or 12 B"

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

I know that in small towns they won't bother with the even-odd rule. So a town of 200 people might have houses numbered 1-100 and all in whatever order they like.. small towns are often an exception, I find. ^_^

[marveen.livejournal.com]

I thought the whole point of it being between 11 and 13 was that it was magically hidden and on the "wrong" side of the road besides.

[conuly]

But wouldn't that mean there's another, NONmagical number 12 on the other side?

[thornleaf.livejournal.com]

I suspect the magic, hidden house answer is correct... but I've seen the numbering done like that on cul-de-sacs.

I don't recall Sirius living on one of those, though.

Sometimes I use my useless trivia knowledge for good!

[thren0dy.livejournal.com]

I believe in the UK that they do indeed number houses on one side 1, 2, 3, etc. - and the only reason I know this is from a compliation of The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com) articles I have. I have a weird memory for useless trivia. It was mentioned in an article about the Prime Minister's house (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_433.html).

The neighborhood also isn't what you could call overcrowded. Number 10 is one of only three remaining houses on Downing, the other two being numbers 11 and 12 (all of which adjoin--having even and odd numbers on opposite sides of the street is an American practice).

Re: Sometimes I use my useless trivia knowledge for good!

[conuly]

Thanks, I was wondering.

How does that work, though? Does it go 1-15 on one side of the street, for one block, and the other side goes 16-30 for a block? Or does one side go all the way through to 1000, and then the other side starts at 1001?

[the-lady-aurora.livejournal.com]

The house where I grew up was number 63 but the house to the left was number 20 because it fell into a new road. The house opposite was number 150 which was next to number 21. Again, number 21 was in the same raod as number 20 but 150 was in our road. The odds went to the right and then, when they got so far, they became a new road. The evens then started on the opposite side and worked their way back towards the top.

Where I live now, we don't have house numbers just names and not everyone displays their house name easily. Plus, I live in Wales and most of the house names are really hard to pronounce or remember even if you see them :0)

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

In Berlin, the numbers start going continuously down one side of the street, then back up the other side. The streets are generally fairly short (by which I mean a continuous street changes names), so it works.

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

This is SO aggravating. The same (continuous) street can end up with a different name every time it is crossed by another street sometimes! Makes navigation extremely difficult, if one is not a local...