What Freeways Teach Us About Culture—and Maybe Mental Health

This summer, I spent four weeks at USC in a college program for high school students, studying psychology through the lens of anthropology and how culture shapes the way we think, speak, and behave. Los Angeles became my classroom of sorts, and one little detail jumped out at me: down here, they put a “the” in front of every freeway.

In Northern California, where I’m from, we just say, “Take 80 to 580 to 24.” But in Los Angeles, people say, “Take the 10 to the 405 to the 101,” like they’re talking about old friends. At first, I thought it was just quirky. Then I realized… this was a linguistic fingerprint.

The history explains some of it—Southern California’s first freeways were named (the Hollywood Freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway), so “the” felt natural. When the system switched to numbers, the “the” stayed. In Northern California, the numbered system came first, so the “the” never showed up. Even SFGATE wrote about how just one little word gives away where you’re from.

And here’s a funny Bay Area twist: if you hear someone say the BART, you instantly know they didn’t grow up there. Locals just say “BART,” almost like it’s a person. Another linguistic fingerprint.

Now, does this connect perfectly to mental health? Not exactly. But once I started thinking about how a tiny word like “the” could shape how we see something, I couldn’t stop noticing other examples. Anthropologists call this the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis—the idea that language influences thought. And research actually backs that up. A 2024 study in Social Science & Medicine found that people who thought of depression as something you have (like a visitor) felt less stigma and more hope for recovery than those who thought of it as something you are (like part of your identity). That’s just one word—have versus are—but it changes everything.

And here’s me going even further off-topic: psychologists have found that people struggling with depression change the way they talk, too. They use more “I” words and more strong language like “always” or “never” (Al-Mosaiwi & Johnstone, 2018). In fact, language patterns can even predict depression months before a clinical diagnosis. That blows my mind.

Cultural anthropology teaches us that words aren’t neutral. They reveal what a society notices, values, and bonds over. In LA, freeways aren’t seen as infrastructure. Rather, they are like social landmarks, woven into the identity of the city. The same reasons and linguistic fingerprint that give the 405 its definite name might also shape how a culture talks about stress, joy, healing, and mental health.

So maybe this doesn’t all tie back neatly to freeways—but it’s the same idea. Words aren’t just labels. They sneak into how we think, how we connect, and even how we see ourselves.

By the end of the summer, I caught myself saying “the 110” without thinking. Maybe that’s how identity works. It sneaks in, one word at a time.

Works Cited

• Al-Mosaiwi, M., & Johnstone, T. (2018). In an absolute state: Elevated use of absolutist words is a marker specific to anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(4), 529–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617747074

• Raison, C. L., et al. (2024). Surprising psychological benefits of framing depression as a functional signal. Social Science & Medicine, 345, 115621.

• Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. MIT Press.

• Morris, E. (2024). How one word can give away whether you’re from NorCal or SoCal. SFGATE. https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/how-one-word-give-away-you-re-norcal-socal-19989220.php