The Chicago Manual of Style: a nitpick question

[Holly]

I wrote a novel set in Washington, D.C. and gave a paper copy to an editor/writer/friend to check. Right now I'm revising the story.

The editor went by the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE. Yesterday I came to a page where she changed 34th Street to Thirty-fourth Street. The CMOS says that numbered streets under 100 should be spelled out -- Fifth Avenue, for example.

What really, really, really bugs me is 34th Street is the real name of the street. The street signs say 34th. The D.C. government's official index of streets lists it as 34th Street. I used to live near 34th Street. I walked by there all the time and remember the sign and I'll be damned if I write Thirty-fourth Street.

How much does this matter? Should I go with Thirty-fourth, or shrug, eat a donut, and turn the page?

[bcomet]

Whatever you do, don't eat a donut!
(Unless, of course, you eat thirty-four donuts, and then, of course, the curse strikes...)
:-D

[Holly]

Whatever you do, don't eat a donut!
(Unless, of course, you eat thirty-four donuts, and then, of course, the curse strikes...)
:-D

What I REALLY said (because I talk to myself when I'm not talking to the dog): "What would Jay-Z do? And Beyonce and Coolio and Barbara Walters, what the frig would they say?"

[Quill]

I say if it's good enough for a movie title AND the actual street name, it's good enough to override the Chicago Manual.

[polymath]

An editorial failure of interpretation, I see. Chicago does indeed recommend ordinal thorougfare names less than 101 be spelled out in prose, usually spelled out, not always, as per Chicago section 9.56. However, if It's a matter of respect and commonsense sensibility, does a writer (or editor) have license to change a thoroughfare's locally accepted name? I believe not. My principle for when an ordinal numeral sometimes is not spelled out comes from descriptive usage rather than proscription. If the name of the street is displayed as First Street, spell it out. If the displayed name of the street is 5th Avenue, let it stand as an ordinal numeral. I came by that principle the hard way. Fewer readers complain if a thorougfare's name is used as displayed. There's always a prescriptive grammarian reader or two ready to pounce, though.

Do this, unless that, in which case this or that, unless that, in which case punt.

[Holly]

Thanks for supporting common sense, Polymath.

Quill, you made my whole night.

[Bryan Russell/Ink]

I'm with Polymath on this one.