Bad manners

[vernon]

For those who crave acknowledgement while out on their bikes:

 

[lukesdad]

Bugger I was hoping to hear buster bloodvessel belting out a tune.

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm still trying to cancel out all the double negatives....

I recently came across Frank Muir's 'stagehand's quadruple negative': "No-one never said nothing to me about no lights'.

 

[400bhp]

A couple of times I've said morning to someone I've passed they have taken umbridge and just had to re-overtake

I still generally do it [say hello/morning].

 

[TheDoctor]

Some do, some don't. I find it hard to care much either way...
I always say hello to horses, and they never say it back, the hay-eating bastards...

 

[on the road]

It's not the end of the world.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

meh. I do the INR thing but if nothing comes back I don't let it bother my day.

Its an odd thing to expect from a shared mode of transport and nothing else. I don't acknowledge other peds when walking, other drivers when driving or everyone else on the bus when I get on.

Taxi drivers, bus drivers etc generally know one another however fleetingly via their job to make the wave viable, but 99.9% of people I see on bikes I have never met or don't remember doing so.

 

[RedFeend]

People who drive Land Rovers (the original sort) usually acknowledge each other on the road. I don't really know why, but It does make life feel just that little bit more pleasant.

Mmm nice :-)

 

[vernon]

People who drive Land Rovers (the original sort) usually acknowledge each other on the road. I don't really know why, but It does make life feel just that little bit more pleasant.

Mmm nice :-)

I was mightily relieved on one count when I sold my 2CV thirty years ago. I was plagued by other 2CV owners who insisted on flashing their lights and waving. It's a vehicle not a fugging lifestyle.

It was the same with motorcycles. I recall the bemoaning of the decreasing frequency of acknowledgements from fellow bikers. I welcomed the opportunity to focus on the personal enjoyment of the ride and not the 'open source' enjoyment of a 'community' when the practise decline.

I'm sure that sociologists would find the acknowledgement of fellow minority group members have a common identifiable need to identify themselves to kindred spirits that's totally unconnected to good manners and more to do with social insecurities. Most minority groups own, wear or use visual markers that affirm their minority status. There appears to be a quasi religious element involved in the core activities of such groups and a low key promotion of a persecution complex accompanies by self elevation to true believer and therefore superior status.

Compare:

• 2CV owners - single model rallies, light flashing camaraderie
• Mk1 Land Rover owners - likewise
• Cycling weight weenies - need I say more?
• 'Real cyclists' - heaping disdain on BSOs while avidly following the doctrine contained within 'Cyclecraft'
• Helmet cam wearers - the epitome of self declared infallability
• Non mainstream Christians - low key religious symbols worn exhibited, strident protests at perceived discriminatory practice
• Non mainstream muslims - demands for accommodation of practices that are outside of UK law
• Smokers - failure to acknowledge that they literally are a dying breed and demanding the right to share the cause of their deaths with others.

Debate or dismantle at will. Over to you

 

[pauldavid]

I was mightily relieved on one count when I sold my 2CV thirty years ago. I was plagued by other 2CV owners who insisted on flashing their lights and waving. It's a vehicle not a fugging lifestyle.

It was the same with motorcycles. I recall the bemoaning of the decreasing frequency of acknowledgements from fellow bikers. I welcomed the opportunity to focus on the personal enjoyment of the ride and not the 'open source' enjoyment of a 'community' when the practise decline.

I'm sure that sociologists would find the acknowledgement of fellow minority group members have a common identifiable need to identify themselves to kindred spirits that's totally unconnected to good manners and more to do with social insecurities. Most minority groups own, wear or use visual markers that affirm their minority status. There appears to be a quasi religious element involved in the core activities of such groups and a low key promotion of a persecution complex accompanies by self elevation to true believer and therefore superior status.

Compare:

• 2CV owners - single model rallies, light flashing camaraderie
• Mk1 Land Rover owners - likewise
• Cycling weight weenies - need I say more?
• 'Real cyclists' - heaping disdain on BSOs while avidly following the doctrine contained within 'Cyclecraft'
• Helmet cam wearers - the epitome of self declared infallability
• Non mainstream Christians - low key religious symbols worn exhibited, strident protests at perceived discriminatory practice
• Non mainstream muslims - demands for accommodation of practices that are outside of UK law
• Smokers - failure to acknowledge that they literally are a dying breed and demanding the right to share the cause of their deaths with others.

Debate or dismantle at will. Over to you

How rude, could you not have started this post with a little "hi" or "hello" or even a little waving smiley.

Someone should start a thread abut manners!

Bye then everyone, have a lovely day (roughly translates as- nobbers the lot o' ya)

 

[colly]

You might be right Vernon.

On the other hand, in the middle of nowhere no one else around, a quiet road, you walk pass someone and because you are so desperate to prove you are 'self contained' or whatever, or maybe that you really couldn't 'give a f*** you blank them as if they aren't there. I'd call that pig ignorant.

It doesn't bother me tbh and practically you can't or wouldn't want to acknowledge every cyclist/ped all the time but when there is just two of you for miles around it seems churlish to say the least.

What do I know? I'm happy to chat to anyone.

 

[Sittingduck]

It's not bad manners, really. Maybe they didn't want to startle you or maybe they were just focused on something besides every Tom, Dick or Harriet they may encounter on a bicycle.

 

[perplexed]

This problem is easily alleviated by something we learned in childhood.

Polystyrene chip cartons. Tear a piece off, and jam it in the rear of the frame to make it lightly poke into the rear spokes. It thus produces a pleasant buzzing noise as one cycles, pretending to be a motorbike.

Regarding the Land Rover flashing thing. That is fine.

However, if you are a Land Rover owner who persists in displaying the 'One Life. Live it' legend on the rear of the vehicle, then may all the hounds of Hell descend on you and eat your testicles. Preferably not having brushed their teeth first. You do not have special insight to life which the rest of humanity somehow lacks. That is all...

Oh, and morning all!

 

[swee'pea99]

Some do, some don't. I find it hard to care much either way...
I always say hello to horses, and they never say it back, the hay-eating b******s...

Damn good point. I say hello to dogs on a regular basis, and even the occasional cat. Do they ever reciprocate? Do they *&$%.

 

[Fnaar]

Hey, I've answered this before! Looky here:

Jan 2011:

I always nod, wave or say hi. If I get no response I turn round, chase them down, push them off, then give them a big hug and say "spread the love, brother".

May 2012:

I always give some kind of greeting. If they don't respond, I say 'nob' to myself (not 'at' myself, you understand). I'm tempted to sometimes turn round, chase them down, push them off, pin them to the ground and shout "hell-bleeding-o", with spittle spraying from my foaming mouth. One of these days a good rain's gonna fall (cycles off into the night, muttering).