Oft-heard cycling phrases that get on your nerves

[w00hoo_kent]

I've definitely been in conversations about cars where 'left and right' ended up in confusion which nearside and offside fixed. Often when talking about the engine (which you tend to work on looking back at the car) in relation to the interior (which you tend to work on looking out of the front of the car). But I can't see it being an issue on bicycles, there's hardly a lot to them to get confused about. Is it the side with the jaggedy bits on?

 

[jay clock]

I've definitely been in conversations about cars where 'left and right' ended up in confusion which nearside and offside fixed. Often when talking about the engine (which you tend to work on looking back at the car) in relation to the interior (which you tend to work on looking out of the front of the car). But I can't see it being an issue on bicycles, there's hardly a lot to them to get confused about. Is it the side with the jaggedy bits on?

`Yes but the nearside and offside is still a problem if the car was intended to be driven in France. Does the near and off swap when you cross the channel

 

[w00hoo_kent]

`Yes but the nearside and offside is still a problem if the car was intended to be driven in France. Does the near and off swap when you cross the channel

Yes.

The nearside of the car is always the side closest to the kerb as you drive it down the road. You'd need to be careful ordering bits for a LHD car because they'd be weird, but that's your fault for having one. When talking to someone about it though, say asking a tyre place to look at one of the wheels, nearside or offside should be fine. Much better than pointing at it and saying 'it's the left one'.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

`Yes but the nearside and offside is still a problem if the car was intended to be driven in France. Does the near and off swap when you cross the channel

Of course it does. No argument there. The dispute is where in the channel does the switch-over happen. We shouldn't confuse those on-board mechanics now, should we? I have an idea borrowed from aviation. As soon as you take off, you set your watch to destination time. As soon as the car boards, the sides switch over to the destination usage. Or, we could just say right and left.....

 

[youngoldbloke]

Let me help you out here. Is your car's steering wheel on the left or right? You can answer that one without asking me from which position I'm viewing the car, and I'll understand without any ambiguity. My only assumption is that you live in the UK. On a bicycle you need to know nothing else other than whether you're referring to the left or the right. Any confusion is imagined.

Look ... I know the convention, but as someone else has pointed out, if you are off the bike or out of the car, at the front, looking towards the back, the left hand side becomes the right, and my right hand side steering wheel is on the left. Right? For example when I'm changing a headlight bulb, I think offside or nearside, or passenger side or driver's side, not right or left.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Let me help you out here. Is your car's steering wheel on the left or right? You can answer that one without asking me from which position I'm viewing the car, and I'll understand without any ambiguity. My only assumption is that you live in the UK. On a bicycle you need to know nothing else other than whether you're referring to the left or the right. Any confusion is imagined.

Unless a complete novice asks you over the phone, which way to turn the spanner to get the pedals to unscrew, but fail to mention whether they are stood in front of or behind the bike.

 

[bpsmith]

I fail to see why not knowing which is left or right, depending on your viewpoint, is something on the Autistic Spectrum?

Anyone care to explain?

 

[youngoldbloke]

I fail to see why not knowing which is left or right, depending on your viewpoint, is something on the Autistic Spectrum?

Anyone care to explain?

I'll remove that bpsmith - I apologise if I caused offence. Maybe 'over literal' is better. I find it difficult to continue referring to the 'left hand' side of the bike when viewing it from the front when this side is now perceived by me as being the right hand side.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Unless a complete novice asks you over the phone, which way to turn the spanner to get the pedals to unscrew, but fail to mention whether they are stood in front of or behind the bike.

Well, since screwing is not a right or left issue, the correct answer would be clockwise or anti-clockwise. But now I can just see a whole bunch of spatially-challenged mechanics raising their eyes questioningly to the sky trying to figure out whether clockwise changes based on your perspective.

 

[swansonj]

I fail to see why not knowing which is left or right, depending on your viewpoint, is something on the Autistic Spectrum?

Anyone care to explain?

What we're talking about now is definitions where there is ambiguity (left or right from which end? Near side and offside a property of the car or the road?) and where some people instinctively understand what is meant (and can't see what the problem is) but where other people struggle to make the "obvious" (to some people) interpretation that allows you to make sense of the terms. That latter problem is pretty common to ASD - and it's common for the former position, of not seeing what the problem is and simply restating ever louder that it's obvious, to make life harder for people with ASD.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

What we're talking about now is definitions where there is ambiguity (left or right from which end? Near side and offside a property of the car or the road?) and where some people instinctively understand what is meant (and can't see what the problem is) but where other people struggle to make the "obvious" (to some people) interpretation that allows you to make sense of the terms. That latter problem is pretty common to ASD - and it's common for the former position, of not seeing what the problem is and simply restating ever louder that it's obvious, to make life harder for people with ASD.

That leaves me so confused I'm now unsure whether I'm supposed to be autistic or not. Maybe I'm just spatially dyslexic.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Well, since screwing is not a right or left issue, the correct answer would be clockwise or anti-clockwise. But now I can just see a whole bunch of spatially-challenged mechanics raising their eyes questioningly to the sky trying to figure out whether clockwise changes based on your perspective.

Depends whether you are looking at the back or front of the clock. On occasion I deputise for the church clockwinder. Ancient clock in the church tower, requires winding every 24 hours. To adjust the time shown on the tower dial one has to move the hands on the clock itself anti clockwise to go forwards, clockwise to go backwards.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Doesn't everyone have to recite to themselves 'tight to the right, loose to the left'? (Except for that pedal of course - now was that the LH or the RH one?)

 

[mjr]

Depends whether you are looking at the back or front of the clock.

And whether you're talking about the image on the surface or the back of your eyeball or what it represents...

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Doesn't everyone have to recite to themselves 'tight to the right, loose to the left'? (Except for that pedal of course - now was that the LH or the RH one?)

I know people who use "Righty Tighty, Loosey Lefty" but a left hand pedal is always on the left know matter from where it's viewed, it may now be on the right but it is still the bike's left pedal.