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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)

#201

Post by pmontra »

iso1631 wrote: post #118
pmontra wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look at the rear mirror all the time, especially before stopping. Is that car behind me too fast and will crash into me? A taxi decided that didn't like me stopping at a pedestrian crossing a few nights ago and overtook me. I honked and both the people crossing the street and the taxi stopped. I think the danger trumped the rule of never honking at night in a city.

Was this in Jakarta or a smaller city?

It was in Milan, Italy. Horns are uncommon but there are some random crazy drivers in hurry to get somewhere :-)

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

#203

Post by sdfjkl »

LegitShady wrote: post #172
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…

>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 :) It seems like it should be illegal (and also partly suicidal) to go into the opposing lane in a situation where you cann…

Visit Italy! Just don't drive there.

These roads don't really have "lanes", it's more of a squeeze past each other kind of thing if you hear a returned honk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjPZhLiozAg

Being Italy, of course they do race cars down these roads :)

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

#204

Post by pomian »

keraf wrote: post #170
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'm in Zanzibar, TZ at the moment. Honking is also used when overtaking or in general to make others aware of your presence on the road (especially for pedestrians and cyclists). The interesting part though is with indicators. They use the right indicator (driving in on the left) to signal incoming cars to the vehicles behind you, meaning it is unsafe to overtake.

haha! we have to add a note in this thread, for which countries drive on the left and right. So your warning for passing signals are the same using the same logic.

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

#205

Post by tectonicfury »

My father told me the reason some years ago. As a rough sketch, it was because decades ago many highways used to be 'single lane', so if you had a truck in front of you, you needed to overtake it as you wouldn't want to be stuck tailing it the entire length of the road.

He said that above the "OK" there used to be a bulb. So if someone wanted to overtake the truck, they were required to sound their vehicle's horn to signal their intent/desire to do so, that's what the "Horn Please" was for. If all was clear, the truck driver used to turn on the bulb to tell that it was "OK" to do so.

Apparently, with time, the bulb went into oblivion (perhaps due to becoming redundant because of the widening of the roads) but the words remain.

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

#206

Post by pomian »

ballenf wrote: post #175
vollmond wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always hear/read about the speed trap warning. In motorcycle circles, IIRC tapping the top of your helmet is that same warning. I haven't ever actually seen either of those in practice, though. Motorcyclists do usually wave at each other, or sometimes point at the road with a foot or two fingers, just as a greeting. The one I do see (in the USA anyway) is flashing your high beams to let a semi truck know they have…

I feel like Waze has killed the high beams flashing warning, although I miss it. It sounds crazy as a say it out loud, but the signals between drivers always gave me warm feelings of some kind of community with other drivers. Now everyone on the road seems much more internally absorbed or focused. Cars are quieter, podcasts instead of radio, etc. While they were never very common, CB radios were also less rare in car…

what's waze?

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

#207

Post by albrewer »

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…

> In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road,

This was common in Puerto Rico when I visited.

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

#209

Post by mindcrime »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #101
hungryforcodes wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A reminder that pretty much no lorry driver in india knows English. They live in India -- why would they need to know English exactly?

IIRC English - Indian English, not British or American - is the second language of the most people in India. Otherwise, they have so many local languages they would be mutually incomprehensible. But everyone learns English, and so they can talk and do business.

I had two Indian co-workers once, and we got into talking about languages. I was a bit surprised at the time to find out that the only language they shared in common was English. One spoke English, Tamil, and a regional dialect, and the other spoke English, Hindi, and a (different) regional dialect.

I later came to find that this is actually quite common in India. And I understand English is still widely taught there, as a legacy of British colonialism, and so many (most?) Indian people - especially in urban areas - do speak English to some extent.

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

#210

Post by gumby »

> It is unclear whether the ubiquitous sign actually contributes to drivers honking their horns more, though the government of Maharashtra certainly seems to think there is a connection.

Whether the signs do or don’t contribute is irrelevant. They are ubiquitous and banning them causes discussion which calls attention to the city’s attempt to reduce the racket.

And I am annoyed that, despite the title, the article does not explain the origin.

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