Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least in my region, the phrase is used about evenly to refer to both: - Parking in the roadway next to the row of parallel parked cars/in other ways such that parked cars are blocked in and - Parking a single car such that two parking spots are obstructed (unjustifiably so, e.g. nobody would likely talk that way about an RV taking two parallel parking spots). The difference in usage seems to depend on whether you…
Double parking is a legal term for a specific traffic violation. People who use it to refer to parking across two bays in a parking lot are using it wrong . It’s like saying ‘well people in my region use the word “speeding” both to refer to going over the speed limit, and for going through a red light’. People in your region have heard a term and misunderstood it. Laws commonly include exceptions like; > Vehicles use…
Language is how people use it. That sounds like a perfectly valid route to adding a colloquial meaning to a word.