Cobblestoned Cliché

It does not take very long in reading an article about Georgetown before you’ll inevitably run across a variation on the phrase “cobblestoned streets”. For instance, last October when reporting on the GroupMe texting story, the Washington Post described the neighborhood as a “cobblestoned enclave of tony boutiques and historic rowhouses”.

But as anyone remotely familiar with Georgetown can tell you, we don’t actually have that many cobblestone streets. As the map above shows, we have about three blocks each for O and P St., and then a few small stubs on 35th, 34th, and next to Dean and Deluca. That’s it (outside some alleys).

Sure, this is being somewhat pedantic, but GM is going to be even more pedantic and point out that only the single blocks of 34th and 35th off of M St. are actually cobblestones. O and P St. are covered in Belgian blocks.

This, of course, is not a serious problem. But it’s worth pointing out that it’s a clichéd and hackneyed phrase that’s largely misleading. And when journalists use clichéd and hackneyed phrases, there’s a good chance they’re using similarly lazy reasoning in whatever point they’re trying to get across.

All that said, GM’s is on record supporting the removal of asphalt in select locations around Georgetown. The old Belgian blocks are still there in a lot of places. Make Georgetown Cobblestoned Again!