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

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

#141

Post by sva_ »

fho wrote: post #110
hr0m wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm all of it for Germany as well (except the Italian serpentine road synchronization hack). I flash lights for oncoming traffics because of danger or police checks. I flash warning lights (or raise right hand) for thank you. Others do as well (especially buses, when you let them out of the bus stop, since in Germany they don't have the right of passage leaving a bus stop) I learned that truck drivers (and…

It's somewhat common among truck drivers in Germany to flash the turn signals left-right-left-right to say "thank you" after overtaking (another truck).

I think it's usually right-left-right-left.

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

#142

Post by obiwan14 »

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.

It all depends on where you're in the US, though in general, especially in smaller cities, honking at another driver is taken as an insult. When I first moved to Baton Rouge, it took almost 3 months before I heard a car's honk, which surprised me, because in NYC, honking is a mode of communication.

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

#143

Post by calahad »

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…

Flashing the high-beams to warn of police is a thing in the US also, although you can get ticketed for it.

(Apparently this has been successfully challenged in court as free speech though lol https://www.myimprov.com/flashing-headlights-in-florida-prot... )

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

#145

Post by sva_ »

newswasboring wrote: post #41

Ok, time to throw in the explanation I grew up with. I always thought it was definitive, but turns out its not. Unfortunately I have already passed on this urban legend :P. On foggy roads in north India, it is difficult to see vehicles on the road. So lights were used to indicate the status of big vehicles like trucks. Two lit bulbs on left and right corners (illuminating Horn Please) meant honk to get a pass. And to…

I presumed it is because almost no trucks there have side-mirrors. Or if they have any, probably not for long.

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

#146

Post by jnmandal »

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…

This is mentioned in the article but it's strange to me because I've been in heavy truck factories in India and 80% of the vehicles are produced without a truck bed or cabin. They are simply sold frame-only. Apparently the trucking companies prefer to build their own wooden beds/bays and cabins, which is cheaper anyways. I have to assume this is also true in the past but maybe not?

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

#147

Post by bane »

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…

> Here in Lithuania, flashing your warning lights (the four orange ones on the corners of the car) means thanks, for example if you let someone merge from one of the very short onramps.

There's a similar custom in South Korea, where the warning lights are often used as a "thank you" if somebody lets you cut in front of them.

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

#148

Post by alisonkisk »

Aissen wrote: post #134
hr0m wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm all of it for Germany as well (except the Italian serpentine road synchronization hack). I flash lights for oncoming traffics because of danger or police checks. I flash warning lights (or raise right hand) for thank you. Others do as well (especially buses, when you let them out of the bus stop, since in Germany they don't have the right of passage leaving a bus stop) I learned that truck drivers (and…

Somewhat tangentially related, but the french government did an interesting ad on this (very entrenched in France too) habit of flashing lights after police checks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNsVZu-2IaA

"Think of the children!" The first refuge of the scoundrel.

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

#149

Post by bane »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #138
Xevi wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Here in Lithuania, flashing your warning lights (the four orange ones on the corners of the car) means thanks, for example if you let someone merge from one of the very short onramps. I've never seen this in Germany, where onramps are however much longer. In Sweden it's common to do this by using your blinkers. You blink once in each direction. So first left, then right. Or the other way around.

In the USA, I at some point picked up flashing headlights as "thanks", I don't know how common it is, I don't see it that often (anymore?), but USA drivers may be unlikely to give thanks on the road. :| (Flashing headlights is also "i see you trying to merge in front of me and i'll give you space." Which I also occasionally do but don't see that often).

I usually see the flashing headlights for "go ahead in front of me" around entrance ramps in busy traffic.

Not common, but maybe I see it 3 or 4 times a year.

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

#150

Post by newsbinator »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #60
OJFord wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is 'global standard English'? If you're American, consider that I (British) can find plenty that's 'wrong' with your English, judged by mine. Indian English has as much right to its own standard of correct as American English. (It's possibly a more widely spoken dialect! Depending probably on whether we say e.g. Europeans learning with heavy US film/tv influence are AmE speakers.)

>What is 'global standard English'? I don't think it's formally defined, but there are some phrases that are widely accepted as "normal" by English speakers regardless of geography and others that are peculiar to a certain dialect. I'd be very surprised to hear someone outside of Australia say they were "fanging for a dart", for example.

It's hard for me to understand why both you and I are getting downvoted for recognizing that people default to a subset of a language they have in common.

I suspect if we were talking about "standard Russian" this wouldn't be so contentious.

Every region has its own way of speaking, its own idioms and acceptable grammatical constructions. That doesn't mean the regions can't speak a unified generic version of the language.

That generic version will still have grammar rules to obey or break.

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