181–190 of 378 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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…
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…
But I personally haven't heard of any other cases when this isn't considered a thank you gesture
https://pakistantruckart.com/2010/05/01/taxi-motifs-in-islam...
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…
Even on racetracks indicators and high-beams are used in their own way (that is: if the race car is equipped with such lights). Hazard lights (both indicators): Used in yellow zone, both to confirm to the marshals that the driver has seen the yellow flag. For drivers behind it is extra indication that yellow zone is ahead. Indicate to the right: Acknowledge the faster driver behind you, indicating it is safe to pass.…
While actual race cars don't have turn indicators, actual headlights are common in some racing classes (especially for endurance racing), and multi-class races are common (where multiple different categories of cars are racing on the same track, often with _very_ different top speeds). Flashing headlights is a common way for a faster car behind to indicate to the slower class of car ahead that they're coming.
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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 lang…
Because it was a rhetorical question, I wasn't actually asking what people consider to be a 'global standard English', I was asserting that that's nonsense. There are many dialects of English across the globe, the Indian dialect as valid as the American; the fact that there's enough common ground between them that we can understand each other doesn't change that (it's surely prerequisite for calling it a dialect and…
Whether we like it or not, when non-natives from 5 different countries get together in a room in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, the subset of English they're speaking is largely the same as when non-natives from 5 other different countries get together in a room in Lima or in Gaborone.
The language they're speaking has grammar rules. It can be thought of as "standard Global English" because it's identifiable, distributed, and distinguishable from American English, British English, Singlish, etc.
I am pretty sure "OK" is a separate phrase - not sure about origins, could be a Quality Check OK by manufacturer or a transport authority certifying it is fit for use maybe. "Horn Please" / "Sound Horn" is the other phrase with a clear purpose and meaning. They just got mixed in due to usage. I saw/see many examples where OK is painted in a distinct font from other words.
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 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…
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.
No where in the article do they even try to ask the people who own or paint these words on the vehicles? Speculation throughout and not a shred of input from any of the people actually involved (Drivers, Lettering painters, police..). Conclusion: none! We don't know and didn't ask either. Really weird article.