Comments on: Driving Language

By: Tim Pratt

Tim Pratt — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:25:23 +0000

There’s an intersection on my way to work every day, a three-way where only cars coming from one direction have to stop. If you’re sitting at the stop sign, and there’s oncoming traffic, it’s tough to tell if they’re going to go straight (thus allowing you to go straight, too) or turn left across your lane, which means you have to keep sitting there. So the locals who plan to go straight always alert the people stuck at the stop sign of their intention by signaling a right turn — there is no road to turn onto on the right, and indeed there’s only a precipitous drop off a hillside, so in that case the right turn signal means “I’m going straight.” It took me a couple of times to realize what the hell people were signaling for, but now I do it, too, without even thinking about it. I wonder about other highly localized signals…

By: George Pedrosa

George Pedrosa — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:37:02 +0000

It’s fun to read these “Jerry Seinfeld” articles about simple things in life…

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:44:47 +0000

…and your insult of the local women was the spark behind the bombing of the American embassy and subsequent invasion of Bangladesh by the US.

Haw.

The case described by Brian would definitely qualify if he is a first hand source and has the thing recorded

I am but I failed to record it. I didn’t even take a camera with me on that deployment. So it’s got to remain a sea story.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:13:11 +0000

Jeroen: Thanks for those links. Of course, whenever I think I have an original idea, it turns out someone else has already thought of it.

Of course, a government campaign for this kind of thing is just a monumentally bad idea. This kind of thing has to spring up spontaneously from the public, or not at all. It’s just interesting that in the 100 years of automotive history (and a hundred thousand of human history) one has never sprung up.

By: Jeroen Arendsen

Jeroen Arendsen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:50:34 +0000

The case described by Brian would definitely qualify if he is a first hand source and has the thing recorded

By: Jeroen Arendsen

Jeroen Arendsen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:47:42 +0000

I am a big fan of humanity and do not believe that people really misunderstand each other so easily. People from different cultures are usually well aware that there may be differences in their signals. People usually try to work out what the other party means instead of jumping to the wrong conclusions. To prove my point I have put out a reward for any evidence of a real cultural misunderstanding of a gesture. If it were really such a common thing then somebody must have videotaped it by accident, right?

By: Jeroen Arendsen

Jeroen Arendsen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:41:00 +0000

Update: There is an entire website devoted to the campaign to invent a sorry gesture in the Netherlands: www.sorrygebaar.nl. Notice how they adopted as a winner the gesture that was already in widespread use: one hand held up in an apologetic way.

By: Jeroen Arendsen

Jeroen Arendsen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:35:35 +0000

Hi,

First, I think there is a clear sign of saying sorry which is near universal. It is a hand held palms down and slightly (or entirely) up. To appease the other person, as it were. A slightly sheepish look on the face and a helpless shrug will complete the picture. Sure it will be tough to see it in a car, but it usually still works. If context is clear, and both drivers know whose fault it was, then any sort of raised hand will do to acknowledge the mistake (and apologise).

Second, this is a thought that has popped up many times before on the net. The Dutch government even created a silly expensive campaign to come up with a ‘sorry’ gesture. Needless to say, one year later the initiative is as dead as it was when it started.

Kind regards, Jeroen Arendsen (A Nice Gesture)

By: christopher

christopher — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:39:12 +0000

“But the most crucial omission from this lexicon is that there’s no way to say you’re sorry.”

absolutely. i’ve said for years that it’s ironic we don’t have a way to easily convey an apology visually. always funny when someone else voices what you’ve been saying/thinking.

another cross-communication: apparently in iran it’s rude to do a thumbs up.

By: Dave Hutchinson

Dave Hutchinson — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:38:16 +0000

Interesting. People use the same gestures here in Britain. You don’t see the bird so often, but it’s not unknown.
I have also seen people say sorry – to oncoming drivers, at least – by means of a graphic shrug.
I should add for the sake of disclosure that I’ve only observed these things as a passenger and a pedestrian, as I don’t drive. I decided a long time ago that there have to be better ways to die.