Wrong side of the road?!? I've heard two stories about why we (in the UK)
actually drive on the correct side of the road...
1) When fighting, on horseback, you would always be right side on to your
opponent (assuming you are right handed) so that you could use your weapon
effectively (especially true in jousting). It sort of makes sense,
therefore, that you should stick to the same configuration when at peace,
as when at war.
2) Stage Coach drivers (again, right handed) would need to keep their whips
as far to the centre of the road as possible, so that they didn't get
caught in the overhanging branches of trees, when administered.
These may be apocryphal, but they seem to make sense.
I think the Americans were just trying to make a point by driving on the
wrong side of the road (or maybe the founding fathers were all left handed,
and only went to the Americas to escape the prejudice??)
Kosten
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> From: Dwade Clay Reinsch <dreinsch@tenet.edu>
> To: W. R. Gibbons <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
> Cc: BOB NOGUEIRA <NKED65A@prodigy.com>; mgs@autox.team.net;
british-cars@autox.team.net; healeys@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Near side and off side
> Date: 03 November 1996 23:43
>
> Sir:
>
> Any southern boy would *know* that "off" and "near" refer to the
positions
> of the ox in a team from the drivers point of reference. The oxen are
> *always* hitched the into the same positions in the yoke. Therefore in
> Dixie, the "near" ox is on the left, so the team can drive on the right
> and the driver walk or ride on the left, to facilitate passing other
> teams. God only knows what a Brit driving on the *wrong* side of the
road
> thinks is "off and near".
>
> Yours, in my most humble opinion,
>
> Dwade
>
> On Sun, 3 Nov 1996, W. R. Gibbons wrote:
>
> >
> > On Sat, 2 Nov 1996, BOB NOGUEIRA wrote:
> >
> > > As long as we are discussing the meaning of spanners ( and make no
> > > mistake about it, I would much rather read about spanners than cats)
> > > could some one explain "near side and off side " again. Maybe if I
knew
> > > the origin of the terms I'd remember which is which.
> > > And why isn't it off side and on side or near side and far side?
> > >
> > > Bob Nogueira " Just a little bit off of the Far side"
> > >
> >
> > A Short Sunday Afternoon Monologue on "Near Side" and "Off Side"
> > by W. R. Gibbons, Ph.D.
> >
> > The origin of these terms is lost in antiquity. Adam referred to the
> > right hand ox in his team as, "Adam's Off Ox." (Adam was afflicted with
a
> > peculiar disability that caused him to think and speak of himself in
the
> > third person. It drove Eve a little nuts when Adam would say, "Was
> > good for Adam; was good for you?" But she was a pragmatist, and
> > couldn't see the percentage in leaving Adam in the hope of finding
someone
> > less annoying. The best known modern-day bearer of this syndrome is
plain
> > old Kansas citizen Bob Dole, who also speaks with approximately the
same
> > english fluency as Adam. Bob Dole claims to be a direct descendent of
> > Adam; evidently the syndrome is inherited. One day, we can doubtless
> > expect science to identify the genetic defect, though science will
prove
> > unable to cure it. But I digress.)
> >
> > Adam referred to his left ox as "Adam's near ox." Nobody knows why.
> > Nobody cares. Perhaps Adam walked along on the left side of his team;
it
> > doesn't matter. For most of the world, outside of England, the terms
left
> > and right suffice perfectly well. Well, I should say for most of the
> > english-speaking world outside of england left and right suffice. The
> > French, for example, use different words, but as the comedian Steve
Martin
> > has observed, "Those French, they have a different word for
everything."
> > Actually, many francophones can speak english, and when they do, they
> > say left and right. In fact, many francophones speak english better
> > than Bob Dole, not that that's any big trick, but only when alone with
> > other francophones. French people will never admit to an anglophone
that
> > they understand a word of english, unless there's a profit in it.
> > Sometimes, not even then.
> >
> > Please excuse me; I have a temperature of 102.
> >
> > Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
> > Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
> > gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
> >
> >
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