2390: Traboules and Snickelways Jul 5, 2021

While terms for common architectural and city-planning phenomena do not tend toward regionality, there are some exceptions. For instance, the French city of Lyon is famous for what are known as a 'traboule', which literally means like 'crossway' but refers to a city-specific system of passageways and alleys that often cross into private property, and were once used to move silks to the river to be sold when it was given a near monopoly on the French silk trade. Likewise, the city of York is famous for its so-called 'snickelways', a term derived for its narrow, winding alleys coined in the 1980's. These are only a couple examples of city-specific terminology, partly because of the unique way that they sprang into being, but many other cities have similar reasons for their own unique, or at least particular terms.