The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#121

Post by Pxtl » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

suvo wrote: post #114

My theory has been a little different. IIRC Horn and Please are written on the two sides asking the tailing vehicle to blow the Horn. And the OK comes from the OK word written on the bumper (in the middle) by the manufacturer. This was a requirement as far as back in the 80s (may be even earlier) to stamp the OK (on the lines of OK TESTED) I guess. People got habituated into reading Horn OK Please and the integrated…

That seems much more reasonable that the strange "on kerosene" theorised in the article.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#122

Post by macintux » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:25 PM UTC

PretzelPirate wrote: post #112

rootsudo wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same applies in southeast Asia/China/Japan, for both. It isn't exactly ubiquitous just in Europe. Not in USA though.

Other than trucks blinking left or right, all of these are pretty common in the US. As someone who grew up in a rural area, honking before going around turns on small roads or crossing single-lane bridges you couldn’t see the other side of was something we did regularly to avoid being hit. I don’t experience this as much in larger cities though.

> As someone who grew up in a rural area, honking before going around turns on small roads or crossing single-lane bridges you couldn’t see the other side of was something we did regularly to avoid being hit.

I've never found this in rural Indiana, but I wish it were common practice. I've found people often simply assume no one is coming because there are so few cars on the back roads; very nearly experienced a head-on collision approaching one curve a few years ago.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#123

Post by rozab » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:25 PM UTC

sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different cultures have different unwritten behaviours on roads. In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road, which usually can't be seen around. If there is no responding honk, they will take the full width of the road (making the very tight turn easier and faster). Tourist drivers have to pick up on this :) In much of Europe oncoming cars flash their lights to wa…

I've seen people flashing their hazards to say thank you in London, but never in Scotland. I suppose non-verbal, everyday communication like this can still remain very localised since the usual vectors for cultural transmission (social media, television, film, etc.) don't include such mundane things.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#124

Post by avh02 » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:26 PM UTC

sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different cultures have different unwritten behaviours on roads. In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road, which usually can't be seen around. If there is no responding honk, they will take the full width of the road (making the very tight turn easier and faster). Tourist drivers have to pick up on this :) In much of Europe oncoming cars flash their lights to wa…

apparently there was a time where there was an indicator on mostly larger vehicles for indicating takeover safety [0] (make sure you view the linked section).

I remember seeing a few of these (though never in use) when traveling in a country that still had a lot of old ladas - so i'm not sure it was only on trucks.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Rear_overt...

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#125

Post by carlmr » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:27 PM UTC

ghoomketu wrote: post #30

Man the amount of honking is insane in India. I was visiting a relative in Patna and it's like everybody just honks for the sake on honking. I mean I thought delhi was bad, but this place just takes honking to a whole new level. It's so bad that I had to go inside a random shop to wait for my Ola as the sound levels were literally unbearable. The only place where I haven't seen so much honking is Goa. Maybe the traff…

Had the same experience, Goa was the only oasis of sanity we found. Also they didn't seem to create these toxic plastic fires that were otherwise ubiquitous.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#126

Post by Pxtl » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:29 PM UTC

rob74 wrote: post #2

> Trucks, in particular, are often not even equipped with side mirrors in the first place. Maybe mandating side mirrors (or rather enforcing this mandate - I can't quite believe that side mirrors are optional for roadworthiness, even in India) would be a better point to start with, rather than outlawing the phrase "Horn OK Please"?

The lack of side mirrors is because of hyper-narrow roads and gateways and terrifying traffic. Last time I was in India our driver kept his side mirrors folded down... and the man was capable of manoeuvring his car with micrometer-level accuracy. I can think of dozens of times I cringed expecting a scrape but of course he knew his car perfectly.

There are many situations where those mirrors would have been lost if they'd been open.

Manoeuvring a larger truck would require amazing driving skills, and the width of that truck would make adding side mirrors pointless - you'd lose them the first day out.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#127

Post by prateek_mir » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:30 PM UTC

yardstick wrote: post #18

Anyone with local insight on how safe/unsafe the roads are and if things like side mirrors would help? I once drove around Sicily for a few days and the main city area roads were constant traffic jams, many more car lanes than actual road lanes (faded or non-existent lane markings), and people switching lanes and turning without any notice/indicators. For all the chaos it kinda worked and people just went very slowly…

I have had similar observations about chaotic driving, people are cautious. At place where I live in India at present, one can actually cross roads walking slowly ( The traffic will just go around you )

I do not think there's much truth in "No side mirrors" argument though, I have seen some very old trucks and buses here in India, and cannot recall any missing mirrors.

Infact, the general convention in India for overtaking a truck is to flash highbeam light, turn on the indicator to highlight the edge of your car and overtake.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#128

Post by prateek_mir » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

llampx wrote: post #62

ramraj07 wrote: post #27

A reminder that pretty much no lorry driver in india knows English. Vehicles here have inane phrases like this and it’s for the most part almost protocol to paint them when you get a vehicle of that class. The guy who paints Lorry backs with the company name probably asks “you want the horn ok please phrase right” and the drivers probably like yeah whatever. Not like the drivers here expect courtesy from anyone aroun…

> “the age for a woman to get married is 21” Worth adding here, that this phrase was meant to make families wait to get their girls married, aka "as opposed to 15" and not as in the current day, where this would be taken as implying that they should get married at such a young age.

I think similar messages used to be printed on the back of government owned buses in the state of Rajasthan !

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#129

Post by prateek_mir » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

I do not buy the "No side mirrors" argument, because what you'll also see written on the back of these trucks is "Use dipper at night", that is, do not use high beam cause the when reflected from the side mirrors, it blocks your vision.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#130

Post by Pxtl » Mon, Nov 29, 2021, 1:36 PM UTC

yutijke wrote: post #34

As a cyclist, the shortest bit of advice I can give to anyone not accustomed to busy Indian roads would be to assume that everyone around you are actively looking to murder you. At best, you are an ant that they may step on by mistake.

I've been to Trivandrum a couple of times - Trivandrum's roads are less lethal than most in India per-collision, but they make up for it on volume.

Having visited Buenos Aires, with similarly infamous roads, I thought I knew what I was in for. No. I've never been so terrified to ride in "normal traffic" in my life. High speed mayhem with everything millimeters apart and constantly pushing for position aggressively.

I cannot even begin to imagine engaging with those roads as a cyclist.