It’s a weird Michigan “thing” that in conversation, we tend to measure driving distances by how long it takes to get there, and not by distance. “Oh yeah Meijer is only about 10 minutes away from my neighborhood” vs “Oh yeah Meijer is only about 3 miles away from my neighborhood”.
A theory I’ve heard as to why is that because we almost always have highway construction leading to endless traffic snarls, distance is meaningless – a 2 mile highway jaunt might take anywhere from 3 minutes to an hour, depending on construction schedules.
Is this true elsewhere? If so, what’s your theory?
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