"Easy, just go down to that park where they have the pumpkin festival in the fall, then turn right. At the greengrocer's, well, where it used to be, I think they built something else there now? Anyway, cross the street there, and right before you reach Maggie's yard, say hello to her from me, will you? you'll have to go down to that other place, I forgot the name but they have the best chocolate cake you've ever tasted..."

Grandma please, just tell me the address!

I'll give you directions, but you have to be comfortable with landmarks and slang names for various areas.

"Then turn right at the stab n' grab, if you reach the Canada lot you've go too far."

I don't "live" in the city, I live in my house, and I only leave to go to college or work. So if want to know where my college or my work are, I'm your man. Otherwise...

I feel dumb whenever people are telling me road names, of even major roads. Like, I know the turns to take to get to a couple regular places, who’s got the time to check out the street sign while watching traffic/turning?

top tip: explore. it's pretty fun to purposefully take wrong turns and just learn what's out there just out of eyesight

Doesn't even need to be directions.

"You know, [place], over in [major part of city]?"

"Oh yeah, haha, [major part of city]. (Discretely take out phone because I have no idea where anything is in this city that I have lived in for 20 years)"

i can give directions very easily. i simply read them off of my phone

Oh, are we the next generation of Boomers imagining bad directions we gave before smartphones solved that issue almost completely?

Before we had stuff like Google Maps, or any digital navigation service really, nobody could then, either.

Even when asking someone for directions to get to where they live you get the wrong number of stoplights, turns, and so on. Street-names are also a gamble because maybe they (mis)remember that the street they commute on changed four years ago. I would wager that most folks are just not "wired" for this sort of task, and is why (shipping) pilots, trackers, and trail-guides are a thing.

Humans lose their sense of direction when they're driving. Spend time in a walkable city, you'll learn the names of all the streets and squares.

I was stopped on the way to work and asked where a particular street was. I had no idea.

I saw it a few minutes later. I had crossed it every day for 20 years.

Sorry I don't get out much.

I struggle with spatial awareness and memory and why wouldn’t I use the amazing achievement that is ubiquitously available GPS service and directions?