Due to the fact that A. there are only 12 avenues and B. below 14th street the grid is fairly irregular, referring to an intersection in Manhattan as Nth & Mth is fairly unambiguous even if the listener doesn't know which is supposed to be the street and which is the avenue. Only the pairs {1,2}, {3,6}, and {4,8} are really ambiguous if you don't have such a convention!
...well, OK, the pairs {4,10}, {4,11}, {4,12}, and {4,13} are also ambiguous; but they're a problem even if you have a convention, since that ambiguity is caused by street-street intersections, with 4th St acting more like an avenue once you get sufficiently far west (so the ambiguity is, is the north-south running element of the pair 4th St or 4th Ave?). Presumably you explicitly specify "street" on both of those no matter what, you don't just say "4th and 9th" and expect to be understood!
So, huh! I didn't expect it would be many, but that's fewer than I expected.
(There are more cases that one could claim to be ambiguous depending on what you count as the same street, but none of the resulting cases are ones I'd count as reasonable to occur.)
Anyway if you need to state your location and you're at one of the above 6 (or 14) intersections, make sure you're clear, I guess. :P
...well, OK, the pairs {4,10}, {4,11}, {4,12}, and {4,13} are also ambiguous; but they're a problem even if you have a convention, since that ambiguity is caused by street-street intersections, with 4th St acting more like an avenue once you get sufficiently far west (so the ambiguity is, is the north-south running element of the pair 4th St or 4th Ave?). Presumably you explicitly specify "street" on both of those no matter what, you don't just say "4th and 9th" and expect to be understood!
So, huh! I didn't expect it would be many, but that's fewer than I expected.
(There are more cases that one could claim to be ambiguous depending on what you count as the same street, but none of the resulting cases are ones I'd count as reasonable to occur.)
Anyway if you need to state your location and you're at one of the above 6 (or 14) intersections, make sure you're clear, I guess. :P
