Things I saw on my commute today

[Twenty Inch]

1) POB nearly went under a lorry after going up his left-hand side at the lights. The road bears left and the lorry driver overtook the POB, missing him by only 6 inches. POB and I had a chat afterwards, I think we were both shaken and glad to talk to each other. I don't think he'll ever go up the inside of a lorry again.

2) Woman eating her scrambled eggs and toast in her car. Bin lorry in the road, woman waiting, bowl of scrambled eggs (or corn porridge) in left hand, spoon in right. I turned around and cycled back just in time to see her take a mouthful of toast. "You can't eat your breakfast in the car, that's outrageous." "I'm waiting for the lorry to go". So that's all right then.

Frickin' hell.

 

[domtyler]

I think there are quite a few new cyclists on the roads at the moment as I saw someone with a shiny new bike and all brand new hi viz clothing go up the left hand side of a lorry yesterday morning just as the lights changed and the lorry pulled off brushing the cyclists arm. I had waited behind and just glared at him and shook my head and he looked sheepish enough that I think he had learnt his lesson.

 

[jely]

sorry - what's a POB? it said in the acronyms "pedestrian on bike" but wouldn't that be an oxymoron?

 

[jely]

and what the hell ... who eats scrambled eggs and toast in the car!!!

people confuse me!

 

[Twenty Inch]

sorry - what's a POB? it said in the acronyms "pedestrian on bike" but wouldn't that be an oxymoron?

Pedestrian/Person on Bike. Someone who is riding a bike, but thoughtlessly, dangerously, stupidly, as opposed to us "proper" cyclists. It's not a term I like very much but is sometimes appropriate. This chap was a case in point - hoodie with the hood up, £79.99 "mountain bike", no mudguards, Metro clutched in his right hand, little road sense and a near fatality.

 

[Maz]

sorry - what's a POB? it said in the acronyms "pedestrian on bike" but wouldn't that be an oxymoron?

Yeh, it's "pedestrian on bike"...and he had a near miss, which is an oxymoron.

 

[jely]

aha, thanks for the explanation... i do see a few of them around my way ... mind you, it makes my cycle in a little bit more exciting as it seems the few i do come up to can't decide whether they want to be a metre from the curb, or 3 metres, so they just swerve in and out to cover maximum ground ... but i figure it's all about pracitising timing for me!

to be honest, i'm still trying to figure out why someone would want to eat a breakfast like that in the car... surely you'd just take the toast - not the whole lot.

mind you, a mate told me the other day he saw a some dude reading his book while cycling around near covent garden... how can you read a book and cycle at the same time?

 

[domtyler]

I always thought it was "Person On Bike" which allows just enough separation from a cyclist who is also a person on a bike, but one who is actually taking what he is doing reasonably seriously.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Yeh, it's "pedestrian on bike"...and he had a near miss, which is an oxymoron.

It's not oxymoronic, it's pleonastic.

Strictly speaking, one doesn't need to add "near" to "miss" - it's either a hit or a miss. However, English having the layers of subtlety and flexibility that it does, it's acceptable to add the qualifier "near" to the word "miss" in order to describe more fully the event.

 

[domtyler]

It's not oxymoronic, it's pleonastic.

Strictly speaking, one doesn't need to add "near" to "miss" - it's either a hit or a miss. However, English having the layers of subtlety and flexibility that it does, it's acceptable to add the qualifier "near" to the word "miss" in order to describe more fully the event.

See someone's been on Wikipedia again!

 

[jely]

...it's acceptable to add the qualifier "near" to the word "miss" in order to describe more fully the event.

hence pleonastic... excellent, you learn something new every day hey!

 

[Twenty Inch]

See someone's been on Wikipedia again!

You doughnut. I learned the word "pleonastic" from my French girlfriend Caroline, who used it when I said something was "an emulsion of oil and water". We were speaking French at the time, and I was delighted to learn that the word "pleonastic" was also in English, and sufficiently obscure to lend me a veneer of erudition if I used it sparingly.

Wikipedia. Pah!

 

[Twenty Inch]

I wonder where Caroline is now.....

 

[Twenty Inch]

France, probably...

 

[Maz]

It's not oxymoronic, it's pleonastic.

Anal arse-hole...
















...is also pleonastic.