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Heaven: 2021 Proof Americans and Brits speak a different language

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  • 'Smart' (the adjective) is not generally understood as meaning 'clever' in the UK. It is usually taken to mean 'well-dressed'. Of course, if pronounced in a transatlantic accent, folk would understand, nowadays, what was meant.
  • You’ve never heard of “smarter than the average duck”?
    Daffy was not exactly a snappy dresser😂
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Sojourner wrote: »
    Just had a look around the web: the firm Nicholas & Co manufactured Vincents powders & their factory was in South Melbourne.

    Just a bit of Antipodean trivia to remind us all that the use of English as she is spoke isn’t exclusive to the British Isles and that part of North America known as the US of A😜

    Yes, English is global and usage diverse. I read here but don't comment often. My own English usage is Zimbabwean and sounds on the whole very British public school because that is how many of us were educated. Current Zimbabwean English usage is more hybrid with numerous Ndebele and Shona phrases incorporated.

    In South Africa, the situation is more complicated and usage is often tied to media influence.

    Before the 1980s, most English-speaking whites spoke a UK-derived English due to English schooling and radio programmes syndicated from the |BBC. Television was only permitted in 1976. As the international academic and cultural boycott against apartheid gathered momentum, most British radio and TV shows and series were replaced by north American shows ands soap operas. Other shows and performers from the UK were banned by the South African govt for expressing opposition to apartheid or featuring multiracial casts.

    After the end of apartheid in 1994, viewers were used to watching US cable entertainment and that has remained more popular. Because of this and the influence of social media, younger South Africans speak a more US-inflected English. On the other hand, the most popular news provider has been Al-Jazeera, so those are the common acronyms used (ISKP rather than Isis-K, for example). Almost everyone watches local Cape Malay cookery shows, so we talk about borrie and dhania rather than turmeric or coriander.

    In the majority English-speaking province of KwaZulu-Natal, on the other hand, the English usage is different from elsewhere. One of the largest Indian diaspora communities is found in KZN, so the most watched TV station is Dstv Indian with 24-hour Bollywood specials. In Durban, people are proud of their Bollywood English.

    No rights or wrongs, just the usual evolution and adaptation of language spoken in different places.

  • Thank you.
  • Eirenist wrote: »
    'Smart' (the adjective) is not generally understood as meaning 'clever' in the UK.
    “Smart” isn’t really a synonym for “clever” in American English either. It’s more a synonym for “intelligent.” “Clever,” at least as I hear it used in the US, usually carries a connotation of skillful, resourceful or witty that “smart” or “intelligent” don’t necessarily carry.

    Sojourner wrote: »
    You’ve never heard of “smarter than the average duck”?
    Or “smart alec,”

    Sojourner wrote: »
    Just a bit of Antipodean trivia to remind us all that the use of English as she is spoke isn’t exclusive to the British Isles and that part of North America known as the US of A😜
    Indeed. I have often wished the title of this thread had been changed early on to reflect the whole Anglosphere instead of just the UK and the US. But I guess 126 pages in, it’s a little late for that.

    And yes, thank you, @MaryLouise. Very interesting!

  • Yes, we do know 'smarter than the average duck' and 'smart-alec' but that isn't the primary meaning of the word. And 'dumb' means 'unable to speak' rather than 'stupid'.
  • But secondary usage has largely taken over, even in Blighty
  • I have never heard "smarter than the average duck." I have heard "smarter than the average bear" from Yogi.
  • Smart means intelligent to me. Also can mean well dressed but carrying the conotation of wanting to appear well dressed.

    If you bang your thumb with hammer you could say "that smarts". Which is derived I think from German "schmerz".

  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited August 2021
    If you bang your thumb with hammer you could say "that smarts". Which is derived I think from German "schmerz".
    It’s actually derived from the related Old English/Anglo-Saxon smeortan and smeart, which mean “to be painful” and “sharply painful.” It’s cognate with the German schmerz. The sense of clever, witty or (mentally) quick came about in the 14the C from the idea of “cutting” words.

    “Sharp” (scearp in Old English) carries a similar double meaning of keenly edged and of keen intellect, and has done so since Old English.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I think 'smart' is one of those words coloured by context. ' Smart work' I would take as positive: 'smartarse' obviously not.

    When you get lemon juice in a cut it doesn't just hurt, it smarts.

    'Smarten yourself up' is about appearance, particularly dress, rather than raising your standard of thinking.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Dude! Look, the original question was
    Enoch wrote: »

    Are these usages found at all in the US? My suspicion is that they are not.
    My answer has been "No" each time because I'm answering the damned original question (only to be "corrected" every single fucking time). No, these usages are not found at all in the U.S. At which point various people keep brightly chiming in to correct me: "Oh, but they ARE found here" (for values of "here" never specified) and occasionally condescending to point out to me that these usages are in fact correct (apparently in all times and in all places) because [mutter mutter participles used as adjectives].

    It's like nobody even reads the thread anymore. (Yeah, I know, dumbass me for assuming they did) Do whatever the fuck you like in the U.K. But allow me to answer Enoch's question, will you?
    Thank you @Lamb Chopped. You've understood what I was asking about. It's not a question of 'my English is just as good as yours' or 'my English is better than yours'.


    On 'smart', it isn't used here for the sensation you get when you bang your thumb with a hammer. That really hurts. Here, it's used the way @Firenze says, something that is sore or stings.


    I agree with @Eirenist that here 'dumb' means 'unable to speak' rather than 'stupid'. It's become a bit unPC these days. I'm not sure what you're supposed to say. 'Mute' possibly. The NRSV tends to have 'mute' where the AV and REB have 'dumb'.


  • Gee D wrote: »
    From memory, the ingredients were aspirin, phenacitin (spelling?) and caffeine.

    Phenacetin. It's a precursor of paracetamol, which is why it works as a painkiller ('cause your body makes paracetamol from it). Unfortunately, your body will also (with a relatively low probability) make p-phenitidine from phenacetin, which is carcinogenic, and really quite toxic for kidney function.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14592552/
  • Paracetamol is called acetaminophen in North America. Most common brand Tylenol and that is generally what it is called even when not the brandname. (It's hard on your liver, and the most common cause of liver failure and drug overdoses.)
  • Paracetamol is called acetaminophen in North America. Most common brand Tylenol and that is generally what it is called even when not the brandname. (It's hard on your liver, and the most common cause of liver failure and drug overdoses.)
    And yet after my heart attack and bypass surgery, I was told that it’s the only analgesic that I should take as a general rule. That was a bummer, as I’ve never found it to work as well as ibuprofen or, particularly, naproxen.

  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    And yet after my heart attack and bypass surgery, I was told that it’s the only analgesic that I should take as a general rule. That was a bummer, as I’ve never found it to work as well as ibuprofen or, particularly, naproxen.

    I try to avoid ibuprofen, because it does a number on my digestive system. For headaches and the like, paracetamol / acetaminophen works just fine.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    And yet after my heart attack and bypass surgery, I was told that it’s the only analgesic that I should take as a general rule. That was a bummer, as I’ve never found it to work as well as ibuprofen or, particularly, naproxen.
    I try to avoid ibuprofen, because it does a number on my digestive system. For headaches and the like, paracetamol / acetaminophen works just fine.
    Yeah, I always figure these are things that vary from person to person—different medicines work better for different people. For me, naproxen works best, followed by ibuprofen with acetaminophen a distant third.

    Oh well. Back to language.

  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    From memory, the ingredients were aspirin, phenacitin (spelling?) and caffeine.

    Phenacetin. It's a precursor of paracetamol, which is why it works as a painkiller ('cause your body makes paracetamol from it). Unfortunately, your body will also (with a relatively low probability) make p-phenitidine from phenacetin, which is carcinogenic, and really quite toxic for kidney function.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14592552/

    Thanks for the correct spelling. The rest of your post is why we as children were not allowed take either a Bex or a Vincents, but ordinary aspirin was ok.
  • deletoiledeletoile Shipmate Posts: 18
    I have been enjoying this thread for 2 years now - having experience on both sides of the Atlantic! but I don't know why it has taken until now to remember two wonderful TV series: "The Story of English" in the 80's, and "The Adventure of English (?)" around 2002. Both took broad views; I think I remember that somebody predicted that the English spoken in India (note I did not say Indian English..) would soon be the dominant version...

    The books can certainly be found, and I expect the videos also.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Eirenist wrote: »
    'Smart' (the adjective) is not generally understood as meaning 'clever' in the UK.
    “Smart” isn’t really a synonym for “clever” in American English either. It’s more a synonym for “intelligent.” “Clever,” at least as I hear it used in the US, usually carries a connotation of skillful, resourceful or witty that “smart” or “intelligent” don’t necessarily carry.

    Sojourner wrote: »
    You’ve never heard of “smarter than the average duck”?
    Or “smart alec,”

    Sojourner wrote: »
    Just a bit of Antipodean trivia to remind us all that the use of English as she is spoke isn’t exclusive to the British Isles and that part of North America known as the US of A😜
    Indeed. I have often wished the title of this thread had been changed early on to reflect the whole Anglosphere instead of just the UK and the US. But I guess 126 pages in, it’s a little late for that.

    And yes, thank you, @MaryLouise. Very interesting!

    The title of this thread was from a YouTube video that has since disappeared in which an English comedian made some hilarious comparisons. I certainly did not think the thread would take on a life of its own. But I have enjoyed the comparisons from other English-speaking countries.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Paracetamol is called acetaminophen in North America. Most common brand Tylenol and that is generally what it is called even when not the brandname. (It's hard on your liver, and the most common cause of liver failure and drug overdoses.)
    And yet after my heart attack and bypass surgery, I was told that it’s the only analgesic that I should take as a general rule. That was a bummer, as I’ve never found it to work as well as ibuprofen or, particularly, naproxen.

    After my cardiac arrest I was told the anti-inflammatory properties of those two medicines would inhibit the incorporation of the stent into my LAD artery, so I had to discontinue my naproxen which was prescribed for my arthritic hips and rely on high-dose paracetamol. At my recent hernia surgery non-specific anti-inflammatories were still listed on my record as an exclusion.
  • TrudyTrudy Heaven Host
    Just a gentle Hostly reminder here, since the thread has taken on a life of its own:

    1. Remember that Heaven is the place for light-hearted and friendly discussion; if you feel yourself on the verge of getting angry at another poster, please remember the spirit of the thread, and indeed the whole board.
    2. Since we have moved beyond just the titular "Americans and Brits" of the OP, if you are contributing to the discussion by saying "this is the word we use around here," please take a moment to add the one or two extra words that would identify what "here" means to you, to avoid possible confusion.

    Thanks for playing nicely.

    Trudy, Heavenly Host
  • Not quite a language item, but even after decades of driving on the right hand side of the road, even with the gear lever and handbrake by my right hand, if I'm on a perfectly clear road with no traffic I will sometimes feel a powerful urge to get back to the left. If it's a quiet country road I have been known to yield to it. It feels very pleasant, like being briefly back in an English-speaking country. (A few weeks of the language and driving in South Africa had a similar effect).
  • I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)

    Odd, when you use it whenever you're parked. It's officially the Parking Brake in the UK, if memory serves, although usually called the handbrake colloquially.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited August 2021
    I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)
    Same on the gear shift here (American South), but the brake in question is usually called the parking brake (though they’re rarely used except when parking on a hill or incline). Emergency brake is sometimes heard.

  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)
    Interesting @NOprophet_NØprofit . I knew North America used a different term for what in BrEnglish is a 'gear lever', but thought it was 'stick shift' other than 'gear shift'. I didn't know there was a different word for 'hand brake' but the term 'emergency brake' implies that it might either mean something else or be mechanically different.

    The 'hand brake' in BrEnglish is a lever that most usually sits in between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat which works a manual brake which you apply when the car is stationary so as to stop it rolling away, especially crucial since a lot of roads aren't on flat ground. It isn't used as an emergency brake when in motion. For an emergency stop, you're expected to keep both hands in the steering wheel.

    As a back up, you're exhorted when parking always to leave the car in gear.

  • Not suggesting all of North America calls things what I hear here. Just because it's called an emergency brake doesn't mean that what it is used for.

    What do you call the glove compartment in your dialect?
  • Enoch wrote: »
    I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)
    Interesting @NOprophet_NØprofit . I knew North America used a different term for what in BrEnglish is a 'gear lever', but thought it was 'stick shift' other than 'gear shift'.
    At least where I am, a stick shift is a specific kind of gear shift—one on the floor at the driver’s right hand in a manual transmission car. “Stick shift” can also mean the kind of car with a stick shift.

  • LeafLeaf Shipmate
    Not quite a language item, but even after decades of driving on the right hand side of the road, even with the gear lever and handbrake by my right hand, if I'm on a perfectly clear road with no traffic I will sometimes feel a powerful urge to get back to the left. If it's a quiet country road I have been known to yield to it.

    Not that far from you, and not that many years ago, a woman was killed in a collision in Southampton, Ont. when a British driver reverted to driving on the left.
    It feels very pleasant, like being briefly back in an English-speaking country.

    It is my understanding that you live in Canada, an English-speaking country. Can you explain what you mean?

  • It's English, but still a different English for me. Many small things that I've never managed to absorb. I'm not complaining - merely commenting on what comforts me. I'll never be a Canadian.

    I can believe the accidental wrong side driver story. I think many of us have done that, just once, and had the wits scared out of us permanently in the process.
  • It was walking in the UK that was seriously dangerous at times for us. First because we had to be alert that drivers and cars came from the opposite direction than expected. Second, because drivers were seriously more aggressive and drove faster in than I assessed for conditions (width of road, number and types of other users), more so than I'd seen in other countries, intolerant of what I'd assess here as normal pedestrian behaviour: socializing while walking. Significant less clearance provided by car drivers: they passed very close.
  • In American cities, the most dangerous time for head-on collisions on the freeway is between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM. It is the time when drunks are driving the wrong way on the roads.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    I think inn the UK "smart" has always carried these implications, as described by the late lamented Terry Pratchett in "Thief of Time":

    "‘Mr Ludd doesn’t seem to care. Mr Ludd seems to think he can do as he pleases. He is also . . . smart.’ The acolyte nodded. Ah. Smart. The word had a very specific meaning here in the valley. A smart boy thought he knew more than his tutors, and answered back, and interrupted. A smart boy was worse than a stupid one.

    Pratchett, Terry. Thief Of Time: (Discworld Novel 26) (Discworld series) (p. 43). Transworld. Kindle Edition."
  • I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)

    Gear stick. (UK)

    @NOprophet_NØprofit: the biggest thing I have to get used to when I drive in the UK again after having lived in the US is how narrow all the roads are. Lanes are narrow, roads are narrow, and lots of roads are both narrow and surrounded by tall hedges.

    I'm curious as to why a car driver should be either tolerant or intolerant of pedestrians socializing whilst walking. Unless, of course, you mean "fannying about whilst crossing the road", which is just selfish behaviour, and given the short shrift it rightly deserves. Or unless you mean people walking on country roads with no footpath, in which case "walk in single file" and "step off the road when a car approaches" are accepted social norms. What conditions are you talking about?
  • (With respect to driving on the left vs the right, I usually do OK, but I get in to trouble when there are no visual road markings or cues - such as, for example, leaving a rural pub carpark and driving on to the minor road on which it stands, the only clue I have about the side of the road I'm supposed to be driving on is the side of the car that I'm sitting on. Until another car appears...)
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Leaf wrote: »
    Not that far from you, and not that many years ago, a woman was killed in a collision in Southampton, Ont. when a British driver reverted to driving on the left. ...
    This is also widely alleged to have been why Mrs Sacoolas crashed into and killed Harry Dunn as she emerged onto the wrong side of the road from a US airbase in rural Northamptonshire in 2019. I say 'alleged'. As most people here will know, the case has escaped being tried because the US government promptly whistled her back home and claimed diplomatic immunity. On the face of it, because of her husband's job it's seen as a matter of principle and national honour.

  • I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)

    Gear stick. (UK)

    @NOprophet_NØprofit: the biggest thing I have to get used to when I drive in the UK again after having lived in the US is how narrow all the roads are. Lanes are narrow, roads are narrow, and lots of roads are both narrow and surrounded by tall hedges.

    I'm curious as to why a car driver should be either tolerant or intolerant of pedestrians socializing whilst walking. Unless, of course, you mean "fannying about whilst crossing the road", which is just selfish behaviour, and given the short shrift it rightly deserves. Or unless you mean people walking on country roads with no footpath, in which case "walk in single file" and "step off the road when a car approaches" are accepted social norms. What conditions are you talking about?

    Being in cities and drivers not slowing in the least when passing walkers where roadways were narrow and they are either at risk, perceive risk or both. Speed limits are not minimum speeds. Perhaps there's more impatience in some places.
  • Being in cities and drivers not slowing in the least when passing walkers where roadways were narrow and they are either at risk, perceive risk or both. Speed limits are not minimum speeds. Perhaps there's more impatience in some places.

    There is certainly more impatience in some places than others.

    Cities usually have footpaths. If you're walking in the roadway in a city, you're almost certainly walking in a place you shouldn't be, so I assume you're talking about walking on a footpath / sidewalk adjacent to a road, and you're concerned because a car driving down the road didn't slow down when they passed you, a pedestrian who was walking on the footpath. Do I have that right?

    Because I don't expect cars to slow down when they pass a pedestrian who is walking on the footpath, and I have never seen a car do this. I've slowed down, and seen many people slow down, when they see a group of kids playing by the road, because there's a significant chance that one of them might randomly run in to the road. But pedestrians who are walking down footpaths do not, as a rule, randomly wander off into the road.

    And I'm not really sure how this interacts with your claim that car drivers don't like pedestrians having conversations. Unless one of you is wandering about in the middle of the road whilst holding this conversation, I don't see why you and the car have cause to interact at all.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Actually I do slow down when passing pedestrians - but when it is raining and there is a significant chance of water between the car and the walker.
  • We perhaps walk more than most? Our experience was of differential driver behaviour. Creating a sense of risk. More asocial in general, not anti-social. Less tuned in to others. As someone who makes friends everywhere my desire to hear others and understand their experiences by observation perhaps has me attuned to such things. Plus lately I've been consulting about active transportation and physical and mental health.
  • I'd call a gear lever the gear shift. Hand brake is emergency brake. (western Canada)

    Gear stick. (UK)/quote]

    I always thought 'gear stick' and 'stick shift' were purely North American. Perhaps I've been away too long.

    Anyone who uses the term 'emergency brake' for handbrake should try stopping a moving car with it. That's why hydraulic brakes were invented.
  • Driving courtesy varies a fair bit by region here in the UK. Where were you, No Prophet?
  • Have you been to Italy, No Prophet? All the vehicles seem to have dents because they keep bashing into one another and they also come from unexpected directions - if you are British that is.

    Great art and great pizza though.
  • We perhaps walk more than most?

    Perhaps. But given that every town and city in the UK is full of pedestrians, it seems unlikely that your experience would have been different from the experience that millions of Brits have on a daily basis.
    Our experience was of differential driver behaviour. Creating a sense of risk. More asocial in general, not anti-social. Less tuned in to others. As someone who makes friends everywhere my desire to hear others and understand their experiences by observation perhaps has me attuned to such things.

    You're not doing so well at explaining your experiences: I haven't got the slightest clue what "differential driver behaviour" is supposed to mean. You obviously felt like you were at risk, although presumably you would have mentioned if someone had actually crashed in to you. Can you describe an incident that made you feel at risk? And I'm still confused about what this has to do with pedestrians talking to each other.

    I was thinking about your asocial / impatient thing. As far as I am concerned, we have a social obligation to impinge on others in our crowded towns and cities as little as possible. So if you're on a bus or train, you keep your stuff together: no manspreading, no occupying extra seats with your bags and assorted clutter if the bus/train is starting to fill up. If you're a pedestrian crossing a road, you do so in as expeditious a manner as you can manage. If you're walking down a footpath, try to maintain a steady speed and direction, as much as possible, so that your motion is more easily predicted by other pedestrians. If you're walking in a group and come across some other people, move in to single file so that you can pass easily. Don't park your car where it'll block someone else, even if it's "just for five minutes" - and no, putting your hazard lights on is not the international sign for "just popping in to the shop quickly".

    Talk quietly. Don't play music loud enough that other people can hear it. Don't drive through a puddle next to a pedestrian (that one's in the Highway Code (You're right, @Penny S, I've slowed down when passing pedestrians when there was a lot of surface water. But I think of that as taking account of the road conditions rather than the pedestrian.). Be efficient in your dealings with shopkeepers: you might have all day, but the person behind you in the queue might not.

    Basically, try not to force other people to have to take notice of you.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    One thing I noticed in Stockholm, if you were walking along the pavement and looked as if you were even thinking of crossing the road, the cars slowed to a crawl.

    Here (UK) I know my circumscribed orbit of streets (only too) well, so I know where I can pretty well wander across, and where I need to use the Pelican crossing or the bit with the traffic island.

    Abroad, where it's all coming from the wrong direction, I'd always use the lights. Except in Athens where you need the additional precaution of tucking in behind a Greek granny.

    Country roads, it's single file, face traffic and be ready to hop into a ditch.
  • MarthaMartha Shipmate
    There are certainly road/pavement combinations here in the UK where you are likely to have a large bus whizzing past within inches of your shoulder. I can imagine that would be alarming if you are used to more spacious roads. On our way to school, the cars will usually move over to the centre of the road if it's clear, to give the pedestrians on the pavement more room.

    Which brings me to another Pond difference- in the US, the pavement is the stuff the roads are made of, rather than the bit you walk on. Any variations on pavement/sidewalk in other English-speaking countries? It seems like the kind of thing that ought to have some good dialect words, like alley and jitty, but I don't think I have come across any.
  • You may not be aware, but there is a move to change the Highway Code to make it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly see this BBC story from the end of July (link), putting more onus on the more dangerous mode of transport. So it is widely recognised that cars in the UK do not give way as much as they should to bicycles and pedestrians.

    I'm going to support @NOprophet_NØprofit about walking in England. I met a couple on a route we walk regularly yesterday that takes in a section of road walking to make it into a circuit, and warned them about the road section, because it has no pavement, is narrow, twisty and busy with traffic from both bikes and cars which are mostly unprepared and unwilling to allow for pedestrians. I've had a cyclist shout at me on that section that I was on the wrong side of the road, albeit tucked in, when as per the Highway Code I was on the outside of a blind bend, which I did shout back at him.

    There are several walking routes locally that require a section of narrow country lane walking and all are pretty horrible with no give way from cars for pedestrians, cars coming as near and as fast as possible, even when tucked it - and there is often no verge, often just a ditch and hedge along the edge, so no, no verge to hop on, sorry about that. There's one route that we'll walk an extra 4 or 5 miles to avoid the road walking, but avoiding road walking requires long distances to avoid those sections if it is even possible and the off road paths are accessible as many are still very muddy even in August this year.

    Particularly unpleasant local tricks, even in town, are for drivers to aim for puddles fast to soak pedestrians, or to set up the windscreen washer to spray passing pedestrians walking on the pavements minding their business, or to throw things out of windows at pedestrians, because everyone should be in cars, shouldn't they? That's without the abuse that gets shouted out of windows too. Grand Theft Auto had it right, didn't it?
  • PS - bonus points for soaking a whole bus queue in this area, plus a yell out of the car window that the queue should "Get a driving licence!" To which one of the soaked bus passengers yelled back "Too f***ing young!".

    It's specific to this area, but it's across quite a large area, including several towns.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    "as per the Highway Code I was on the outside of a blind bend"
    I didn't know that was in the Highway Code, but it's what I do when walking as it makes sense.
    I see lots of walkers who don't know this, and who don't know the more obvious thing about walking facing the oncoming traffic, On one occasion, when I saw a party of youths who were obviously part of some group, with a map, and stopping to discuss where they were going, but had clearly not received proper instruction about walking in lane type roads, I stopped to deliver the necessary training!
    I think that where I live, on the fringes of London, there are a lot of both drivers and walkers who have not grown up with our sort of roads and don't think. I took my bike out once after moving here. I couldn't cope with the drivers.
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