Driving Peeves: SUV's & Turn Signals

[zoobyshoe]

Zoobie,you got to be kidding right...?

Daniel.

Not kidding at all. I haven't opened a Latin text in 40 years.

Edit: Just recalled that "wolf" would be "lupus". "Vulpus" = what, "fox"?

 

[dextercioby]

HINT:"Homo homini LUPUS" (Plautus,Roman drama writer).


Daniel.

 

[Argentum Vulpes]

Not kidding at all. I haven't opened a Latin text in 40 years.

Edit: Just recalled that "wolf" would be "lupus". "Vulpus" = what, "fox"?

Ding ding ding ding ding...

We have a winner, yes my name is the latan form of "Silver fox"

 

[zoobyshoe]

but then i feel bad, cause us new hampshirites are s'posed to be friendly, small town folk...

Hehehehe. Not in my sordid little home town. We used to give those "summah people" the old, New England Stephen King treatment.

 

[Moonbear]

You might be thinking of Montana who during the energy crisis of the 70's when the national 55 mph speed limit was impose didn't want to implement it. To this the federal government threatened to yank the highway funds so Montana instated the 55 mph limit but only made speeding a five dollar fine, and here is the kicker it was a "wasting of natural resources ticket" didn't count as a moving violation or show up on your record. Got to love creative law writing.

Oh, yes yes yes yes! That was it! Thanks! Very clever of them.

 

[hitssquad]

The long and winding road

all our roads are windy, (erm, not like breezey, but lots of turns...)

There is no such word as windy that is pronounced "whine dee." There are, however, winding roads and there are meandering roads which proceed windingly.

 

[zoobyshoe]

There is no such word as windy that is pronounced "whine dee." There are, however, winding roads and there are meandering roads which proceed windingly.

There's no such word as "oncet" either, but it appears in Tom Sawyer many times.

 

[Moonbear]

There is no such word as windy that is pronounced "whine dee." There are, however, winding roads and there are meandering roads which proceed windingly.

But it's more fun "hearing" her say it that way. If you're jumping into the melee, I think I'm the target for snipes tonight.

P.S. To everyone who's still busily expressing their pet peeves about driving, I apologize for being a contributor to the derailment of this thread. I'd be agreeable to a mentor splitting out the off-topic "discussion" about public transportation so that those who just want to continue griping about driving can do so without interruption.

 

[Evo]

But it's more fun "hearing" her say it that way. If you're jumping into the melee, I think I'm the target for snipes tonight.

P.S. To everyone who's still busily expressing their pet peeves about driving, I apologize for being a contributor to the derailment of this thread. I'd be agreeable to a mentor splitting out the off-topic "discussion" about public transportation so that those who just want to continue griping about driving can do so without interruption.

You just were one of many, myself included. Perhaps I will split those off, it will have to wait until tomorrow, that's labor intensive.

 

[Gale]

There is no such word as windy that is pronounced "whine dee." There are, however, winding roads and there are meandering roads which proceed windingly.

BAH! i vote windy is a word, exactly how i used it. i don't need to be confined to by the restrictions placed on me by society...

But it's more fun "hearing" her say it that way.

...thanks...

 

[Huckleberry]

I have also used windy referring to roads, as well as twisty, and turny. Those are the best roads for sightseeing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

BAH! i vote windy is a word, exactly how i used it. i don't need to be confined to by the restrictions placed on me by society...

If enough people say it, it will be a word. You will go down in history as the pioneer of the adjective "windy".

 

[Moonbear]

I have also used windy referring to roads, as well as twisty, and turny. Those are the best roads for sightseeing.

I call them fun roads, and they aren't for sightseeing, they're for zooming around the curves! I love driving windy roads.

 

[Huckleberry]

I guess they are good for everything except getting to where you want to go quickly.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I have the distinct impression that the people who don't like what I have related about the way I drive don't know the freeways here in California. The fast lane here is the fast lane not the passing lane. We have freeways with up to six or more lanes of traffic on either side of the freeway. There are also quite a few drivers out there. Unless you are driving in the middle of the night, and I mean 3 or 4 in the morning, there are very rarely several open lanes just fewer cars and bigger gaps to drive through in the traffic. It's no more dangerous for the person who has cozied up to my bumper to change lanes than it is for me to do so and condsidering that I will have to slow down in order to move into the slower traffic it is possibly more dangerous for me to be doing so considering that I have someone riding the bumper of my car.
Also I drive at about 80mph because that's about the speed of traffic. If I were to drive the speed limit I would probably be antagonizing far more people than I do driving above it. I am routinely passed by CHP while driving at that speed and have not once been stopped. Like I said previously, here it's normal. The speed limit signs might as well say 75mph is the speed limit. I'm personally considered a rather safe driver among the rest of the people on these roads.

 

[Moonbear]

I have the distinct impression that the people who don't like what I have related about the way I drive don't know the freeways here in California. The fast lane here is the fast lane not the passing lane. We have freeways with up to six or more lanes of traffic on either side of the freeway. There are also quite a few drivers out there. Unless you are driving in the middle of the night, and I mean 3 or 4 in the morning, there are very rarely several open lanes just fewer cars and bigger gaps to drive through in the traffic. It's no more dangerous for the person who has cozied up to my bumper to change lanes than it is for me to do so and condsidering that I will have to slow down in order to move into the slower traffic it is possibly more dangerous for me to be doing so considering that I have someone riding the bumper of my car.
Also I drive at about 80mph because that's about the speed of traffic. If I were to drive the speed limit I would probably be antagonizing far more people than I do driving above it. I am routinely passed by CHP while driving at that speed and have not once been stopped. Like I said previously, here it's normal. The speed limit signs might as well say 75mph is the speed limit. I'm personally considered a rather safe driver among the rest of the people on these roads.

That does clarify a good deal of it. I still don't agree with the idea of tapping the brakes. Just remember to cool it when you travel to another state, 'kay?

 

[Huckleberry]

I remember driving through LA during rush hour on my way to Pomona. It is pretty darn crazy. Bumper to bumper traffic for miles all moving along very quickly. Yeah, going the speed limit in that situation would be slowing everyone down and everyone is bumper to bumper all over the place. Very unsafe. I didn't like it one bit, not being familiar with the roads and where I needed to be on them to get where I wanted to go. Not something I would look forward to every day.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

a) If there's enough of a gap between you and the car in front of you to permit you to speed to prevent him from merging, either you were going too slowly in the fast lane to begin with...

If I take my foot off the gas and slow down it's as much to annoy him as it is to make sure that I'm as far behind the person in front of me as possible if I have to slam on my brakes...

...or b) by speeding out of spite, you've now closed the gap to the "innocent" car in front of you to a dangerous level, congratulations. Ironically, you're now tailgating that car in front of you.

When I speed up I don't gun my car and I don't tailgate the person in front of me I just want the jerk to know that I was going slow for a reason...

Did you miss these parts of what I said even as you quoted them?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

That does clarify a good deal of it. I still don't agree with the idea of tapping the brakes. Just remember to cool it when you travel to another state, 'kay?

I do... I already learned my lesson by getting a speeding ticket in OR of driving 80mph. :-)

 

[brewnog]

Gale, I think I said 'windy' earlier in this thread too!

Tell you what, you get it approved in the US, I'll get it approved in the UK, and we can share the profits we make from copyrighting it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Gale, I think I said 'windy' earlier in this thread too!

Tell you what, you get it approved in the US, I'll get it approved in the UK, and we can share the profits we make from copyrighting it.

D you think "windey" would be a better spelling, or would that just complicate things?

 

[brewnog]

D you think "windey" would be a better spelling, or would that just complicate things?

That's how I typed it first, and thought "that just looks daft, it must be windy".

I'm more than happy to introduce yet another word which is spelt the same as something else, but prononced differently. What's that called? A heterophone?

 

[Danger]

A heterophone?

I don't actually care whether or not your phone is gay. We also use the term 'windy' in reference to roads, strictly as a colloquialism. It sure has no 'e' in it. As you said, that's just daft.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'm more than happy to introduce yet another word which is spelt the same as something else, but prononced differently. What's that called? A heterophone?

I can't find "heterophone" in the Websters.

 

[brewnog]

I can't find "heterophone" in the Websters.

I can't find it in my Oxford either. Anyway, the opposite of a homophone.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I can't find it in my Oxford either. Anyway, the opposite of a homophone.

"Alterphone" maybe? Same spelling, other sound. I can't recall there being a word for that.

 

[Gokul43201]

I can't find it in my Oxford either. Anyway, the opposite of a homophone.

Surprising ! I can't find it in a dictionary either.

But I'm positive Brew is correct on this one. Heterophones are words that have the same spelling but different pronunciations. (Ref : Get Thee to a Punnery, Richard Lederer)

Egs : wind, desert

 

[zoobyshoe]

Surprising ! I can't find it in a dictionary either.

But I'm positive Brew is correct on this one. Heterophones are words that have the same spelling but different pronunciations. (Ref : Get Thee to a Punnery, Richard Lederer)

Egs : wind, desert

I found it. It's homographne of two or more words spelled alike but different in meaning or derivation or pronounciaton (as the bow of a ship, a bow and arrow)

-Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition

 

[brewnog]

Good work zoob, good work. I thought for a moment that we were going to have to get Moonbear involved then.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Good work zoob, good work. I thought for a moment that we were going to have to get Moonbear involved then.

It's really odd. I don't recall ever having heard it before, but that kind of thing is so common it's hard to believe we weren't taught that in grade school. I remember homonym perfectly, but homograph seems completely new to me.

 

[Curious3141]

Did you miss these parts of what I said even as you quoted them?

It seems to me you're backtracking from your initial rather gung-ho post, where you said this :

... I take my foot off the gas and coast until they get irritated enough to change lanes. Then sometimes I'll spead up to keep them from getting in front of me.

Your intent seems quite clear there. You purposely slow down to get the tailgater irritated, then once they finally decide to undertake, you gleefully (and spitefully) speed up to prevent them from getting in front of you. This is called blocking, and it's dangerous and pointless. If, as you claim, you're already keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you in the fast lane, you're now assuredly closing into an unsafe distance. So there is a contradiction in what you've been posting, and I think you're toning down your opinion because you've been rightly called on it.

 

[Moonbear]

Good work zoob, good work. I thought for a moment that we were going to have to get Moonbear involved then.

Yeah, and you know what happens if I have to get involved.

It's really odd. I don't recall ever having heard it before, but that kind of thing is so common it's hard to believe we weren't taught that in grade school. I remember homonym perfectly, but homograph seems completely new to me.

Actually, I'd have been no use on that one. I don't think I've ever heard the term homograph before either. Homonyms and homophones, but no recollection of homograph. Dammit Mrs. Gottleib, you gave us an incomplete grammar book in school!

 

[BicycleTree]

So, in conclusion, each of the 80 or so towns surrounding Boston that are not already served by the T or by other buses could be outfitted with a commuter bus stop with regular buses at a total cost of not more than about $20 million, enabling commuter access to bus to all those commuters whose workdays follow regular rush hour to rush hour times, which has been estimated as a bit less than half. Given the hundreds of thousands of daily commuters, this would reduce traffic jams, commuter expense, and environmental expense enormously, if only the stupid commuters would actually use the buses provided for them, which they wouldn't.

 

[BicycleTree]

Well, I read back through the thread checking for the ability of posters to concede points. To some degree I found what I expected, but there was one thing that surprised me.

For myself:
Opposing points recognized as having merit: three
1.) errands commuters do after work, 2.) irregular work hour problem, 3.) public transportation takes longer for a single commuter alone than for a car (though quicker if everyone uses it)
Errors conceded on my part: two
1.) Bus acceleration making buses with only a couple people more trouble in traffic than cars with the same number of people
2.) Commuters from suburbs to city are outnumbered by commuters from suburbs to other places in suburbs

For Moonbear, 2 opposing points recognized as having merit:
1.) 100 people wanting to commute daily from a town would make a bus route feasible for that town
2.) Boston commuters travel farther than suburb-to-suburb commuters
3.) Park & Rides are already being used

For Chroot:
1.) Usefulness of bicycles
2.) It would be good if people could use more public transportation

For Evo:
1.) estimate of 8% of suburb-to-city commuters could feasibly use buses (a concession when you consider the number of suburb-to-city commuters there are)


As I expected, I conceded more than anyone else in the discussion. The surprise was that Moonbear came in second.

Anyway, that's the roundup.

 

[Evo]

If your information is valid, there's nothing to concede, is there?