What Is A Cager?

[Serendipper]

I see this term used a lot, often disparagingly. What does it mean?

[genec]

I see this term used a lot, often disparagingly. What does it mean?

Ever use any search engines?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cager

[AndrewP]

Somebody in a car, isolated and having problems communicating with the people around him.

[tomot]

Trolling is NOT NICE. Especially here.

For shame!

[CommuterRun]

In the broadest sense, it's someone who drives a vehicle, such as a car, SUV or light truck, etc., that completely surrounds them with metal, glass, plastic, etc., as if they were in a cage.

I first heard the term used in certain motorcycle circles over 30 years ago.

Generally it's used to describe certain drivers who behave like idiots behind the wheel.

I sometimes use the term as a faux surname to describe certain drivers, often Moron Cager.

[chipcom]

I see this term used a lot, often disparagingly. What does it mean?
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Dipper, you rock!

[noisebeam]

Someone who believes cyclists should stay in bike lanes?

Al

[webist]

2 results for: cager
View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | the Web

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
cag‧er  /ˈkeɪdʒər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[key-jer] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. Informal. a basketball player.
2. Mining. a machine for putting cars on or off a cage.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1910–15; cage + -er1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
WordNet - Cite This Source
cager

n : an athlete who plays basketball [syn: basketball player, basketeer]

WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

[Treespeed]

A ridiculous term used by cyclists who can't understand why drivers won't treat them like equals.

[blonduathlongrl]

I see this term used a lot, often disparagingly. What does it mean?
:lol:

[CommuterRun]

Which reminds me: In the derogatory sense of the word, some regions have more cagers per road user capita than others, i.e., here there are very few. When I was living out in SoCal, both times, there were very many. So many they even have problems sharing the road with each other.

Here people are good enough drivers to understand that a bicycle is a legal vehicle.

[Treespeed]

Which reminds me: In the derogatory sense of the word, some regions have more cagers per road user capita than others, i.e., here there are very few. When I was living out in SoCal, both times, there were very many. So many they even have problems sharing the road with each other.

Here people are good enough drivers to understand that a bicycle is a legal vehicle.

Maybe you should check your stats before you run your mouth next time.

The trend of Florida having the worst bicycle/motor vehicle crash rates has continued. Similar to the previous years of analysis, Florida’s bicyclist fatality rate in 1998 was 0.66 per 100,000 population. This rate is more than twice the national average of 0.28 per 100,000. Even more alarming, in Hillsborough County the bicycle fatality rate was 1.08 per 100,000 which is almost four times the national average.

Happy Florida Cycling.

[noisebeam]

Maybe you should check your stats before you run your mouth next time.

The trend of Florida having the worst bicycle/motor vehicle crash rates has continued. Similar to the previous years of analysis, Florida’s bicyclist fatality rate in 1998 was 0.66 per 100,000 population. This rate is more than twice the national average of 0.28 per 100,000. Even more alarming, in Hillsborough County the bicycle fatality rate was 1.08 per 100,000 which is almost four times the national average.

Happy Florida Cycling.
Perhaps that is because FL like AZ which also has higher rates is a great place to cycle year round.
Al

[TRaffic Jammer]

Noone said there was going to be math involved!!!!

[Treespeed]

Perhaps that is because FL like AZ which also has higher rates is a great place to cycle year round.
Al

According to the study it was a higher incidence of sidewalk cycling.

But the weather argument hardly holds in a comparison of So Cal. Hello:D

[CommuterRun]

The trend of Florida having the worst bicycle/motor vehicle crash rates has continued. Similar to the previous years of analysis, Florida’s bicyclist fatality rate in 1998 was 0.66 per 100,000 population. This rate is more than twice the national average of 0.28 per 100,000. Even more alarming, in Hillsborough County the bicycle fatality rate was 1.08 per 100,000 which is almost four times the national average.

Happy Florida Cycling.
That's over the entire state. Now quote the stats for Wakulla County as compared to LA County, smart guy.

People out there can't even drive in a little fog without having 60 car pile ups.

Maybe you should check your stats before you run your mouth next time.

[noisebeam]

here is a paper on weather and fatality rates (ped and cycle)
http://www.mcdot.maricopa.gov/bicycle/issues/IPfatality.pdf

I don't believe climate is the only factor, but there is no doubt it contributes.

Data on rates:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bikes/congress.html

"The national average bicycle fatality rate between 1986 and 1995 was 3.4 bicyclists per million individuals. In Florida, which had the highest bicycle fatality rate, this rate was more than twice as high - 8.8 bicyclists killed per million. After Florida, the five states with the highest fatality rates were Arizona (7.0), Louisiana (5.9), South Carolina (5.4), and North Carolina (4.5).

Among large metropolitan areas, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida had the highest per capita bicyclist fatality rate -- 9.3 bicyclists per million. Other large metropolitan areas with bicycle fatality rates more than twice the national average included Miami-Hialeah (7.7), Phoenix (7.7), Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood-Pompano Beach (7.7) and Orlando (7.1). Four of the five metropolitan areas with the highest fatality rates for bicyclists were in Florida. The metropolitan areas with the highest bicycling fatality rates tend to be newer, sprawling, southern and western communities, where transportation systems are for now biased towards the car [ed 'cager' ;) ]."

Al

[twahl]

A ridiculous term used by some cyclists who can't understand why drivers won't treat them like equals.

+1, with my own modification in bold.

[sbhikes]

I met a guy who did a tour to circumnavigate the US from Oregon down to California and across to Florida and up to wherever then across again to Oregon. He turned around in Florida because it was just too dangerous to ride there.

[genec]

Perhaps that is because FL like AZ which also has higher rates is a great place to cycle year round.
Al

So how do those rates compare to California... as So Cal is also great weather wise for year round cycling.

[Bekologist]

Aren't they just all those people driving by me?

there are good cagers and BAD cagers and some downright malevolent cagers out there.


why shouldn't 'cager' be considered appropos in the dialect of bicyclists? Colloquialisms, slang and specific terms are what add to the diversity of language.

I vote to submit CAGER to the colloquial board and move it into common parlance.

[CommuterRun]

Aren't they just all those people driving by me?

there are good cagers and BAD cagers and some downright manevolent cagers out there.


why shouldn't 'cager' be considered appropos in the dialect of bicyclists? Colloquialisms, slang and specific terms are what add to the diversity of language.

I vote to submit CAGER to the colloquial board and move it into common parlance.
I second.

[Wogsterca]

In the broadest sense, it's someone who drives a vehicle, such as a car, SUV or light truck, etc., that completely surrounds them with metal, glass, plastic, etc., as if they were in a cage.

I first heard the term used in certain motorcycle circles over 30 years ago.

Generally it's used to describe certain drivers who behave like idiots behind the wheel.

I sometimes use the term as a faux surname to describe certain drivers, often Moron Cager.

The highest Epithet a motorcyclist/cyclist can use is CLUELESS CAGER. There I was on the corner in a small town, and a guy in one of those $95,000 pick-it-up trucks, cuts off a biker on a Harley, leather pants, leather vest, beard, skin decorations, the whole nine yards, and what to my ears do I hear CLUELESS %$#@!%$ CAGER, from the biker.....

[Geraldo]

Here people are good enough drivers to understand that a bicycle is a legal vehicle.


What people? According to everyone's favorite research tool (Wikipedia) the population of Walkulla was just over 22,000 in 2000. If you want to see some Florida drivers, move from lower Alabama to the east coast.

[tomcryar]

Wikepedia--the National Enquirer of the internet.

[CommuterRun]

What people? According to everyone's favorite research tool (Wikipedia) the population of Walkulla was just over 22,000 in 2000.
It's about 28,000 now. I wish it was still 12,352 like it was in '85 when I left not knowing I was going to do a full 20 yrs. in the Marines.

Ah well, I guess nothing really stays the same. Of course the big population explosion was in the last five years before I retired. :(

If you want to see some Florida drivers, move from lower Alabama to the east coast.
No thanks. Been there. I prefer my life the way I've set it up where I can bike to work, the river, the bay, hunting, fishing, run errands, day, night, without getting hassled by cagers.

The way you describe your location says it all. :beer:

[catatonic]

Florida is pretty safe so long as you aren't trying to prove a point by taking a lane in 55mph traffic. Anyone who does that has a screw loose. You just have to pick your routes using common sense, and to know when and how to use the sidewalk if it is absolutely necessary to use that road (hint: follow flow of traffic, so how would a ped deal with a crosswalk).

The only real risk is crossing a 55mph road without any traffic control signals to assist you. That can be done through a skill called patience....sit there and wait until it's clear...it will b e sooner or later. Use the giant center dividers in those roads as a safe resting place to wait for the other direction to clear as well.

Seriously, there are too many whiners in this thread about how bad FL is. The problem is this area has too many people who fail to use common sense in their endeavors here, driver ped and cyclist alike....impatience is not helping things either.

FWIW, I crossed Gandy Blvd (one of the more dangerous roads here) in the 55mph section (St Pete end of the bridge) twice today and felt perfectly safe doing so....oh, and once on the tampa end, so make that three times.

Honestly, yes this place is more dangerous, but it's not the death-trap everyone is making it out to be. Oddly enough I felt safer in Hillsborough County (Tampa) than I do in Pinellas (St. Pete)....and even then it's safe enough that I ride everyday in this mess.

[tomcryar]

Good points! I'd like to add, though, that Pinellas county has way too many people period. And not to give anybody a tool to open a huge can of worms, many times when I read or hear about a cyclist death around here it is usually one of two members of our population here, which lacks the knowledge and/or care to ride safely in any place. Things like catatonic stated will help anywhere, not just here.

[banerjek]

I see this term used a lot, often disparagingly. What does it mean?
It says you joined BF more than a year ago. If you're not just yanking peoples' chains (i.e. this question is on the level), I'm going to guess you either don't read the forums much or you're not a very quick study.

Some folks intend it disparagingly, others do not. If you find the term offensive, think of it referring to fellow travelers protected by their safety cages. If you want it to be disparaging, think of it as referring to people locked in their cages. To each, his own.

[tomcryar]

It simply means being "caged" inside a car as opposed to the "freedom" of being on two wheels--bike, or motorcycle.

Edit: listen to Bob Seger's Travelin' Man and you'll understand.

[c0urt]

my dad is a motorcyclist, and when i was a youth he explained it as "when you are on a motorcycle in traffic look around, what do you think of when you see the people in their cars. I see monkeys in a cage"

so i always kinda took it like that

[Roody]

Aren't they just all those people driving by me?

there are good cagers and BAD cagers and some downright manevolent cagers out there.


why shouldn't 'cager' be considered appropos in the dialect of bicyclists? Colloquialisms, slang and specific terms are what add to the diversity of language.

I vote to submit CAGER to the colloquial board and move it into common parlance.
I totally agree. Cager is merely a descriptive term, not a putdown. I never have understood why so many riders are worried about hurting the cagers' feelings. I think it's part of the whole cyclist inferiority complex. "The cars might get mad at us," as one sidewalk cyclist told me when I suggested we ride in the street.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

I think it's part of the whole cyclist inferiority complex.
Bzzt! The duck just dropped down with a copy of John Forester's tome in his beak for the first BF poster to type that threadbare, old chestnut in quite a while. More threadbare than the hackneyed use of the term cager.

[Geraldo]

It's about 28,000 now

Woohoo! You'll be overtaking us soon as the fastest growing city in Fla/US. ;)

The way you describe your location says it all

I think the uncontrolled growth is worse than the number of people/drivers. Everything is built for last year's population, not what the population will be five years from now.

Have fun up there in L.A. :beer:

[Roody]

Bzzt! The duck just dropped down with a copy of John Forester's tome in his beak for the first BF poster to type that threadbare, old chestnut in quite a while. More threadbare than the hackneyed use of the term cager.
I'm looking forward to your first original and creative post, although I doubt it will come in this lifetime.

[twahl]

He's right though. Dumbass is a descriptive term. So is dimwit, nutcase, and ******bag. None of them are positive. They are all used to show contempt or disdain for the person or people being described. Cager is a kindergarten-like term that some cyclists use to segregate themselves from another demographic. It's not some neutral descriptive term.

[Bekologist]

Bzzt! The duck just dropped down with a copy of John Forester's tome in his beak for the first BF poster to type that threadbare, old chestnut in quite a while. More threadbare than the hackneyed use of the term cager.

i don't know, Roody, I kinda like ILTB's imagry in that post- quite original! or rehashed..... "and today's secret word is....."

perhaps cager is a bit disparaging, but why not? Collectively, they hate us.


okay, for those of you suffering from a case of 'Forester's inferiority complex', repeat this mantra while visualizing cheerful cagers asking you if you have any Grey Poupon:

"I am a bulldozer."

[I-Like-To-Bike]

I'm looking forward to your first original and creative post, although I doubt it will come in this lifetime.
Original and creative? Tee Hee! What a clever response from a Serial Poster about Cager foibles and Cyclist inferiority complexes.

Hold on though, your BF Original should return in a week or so with a couple hundred more creative posts about proper and VC™ approved cycling technique.

[sgtsmile]

I must take exception to the notion that cars hate us.

Cars are inanimate objects, not sentient beings.

Cars therefore cannot hate.

People, being stupid, can hate.

People might hate us.

Some people might hate us.

Some of these people drive cars.

This might lead some of us to think cars hate us.

I thought a = b and a = c so c = b logic was proven wrong a loooooooong time ago (especially regarding people, cause if that logic worked, then hey, the enemy of my enemy really is my friend.....)

But I must admit, this thread is amusing:)

[I-Like-To-Bike]

He's right though. Dumbass is a descriptive term. So is dimwit, nutcase, and ******bag. None of them are positive. They are all used to show contempt or disdain for the person or people being described. Cager is a kindergarten-like term that some cyclists use to segregate themselves from another demographic. It's not some neutral descriptive term.
You are correct. It is only viewed as a neutral descriptive term by dimwits, nutcases, and ******bags. No offense intended, eh Roody?

[Roody]

Boo hoo for the po' wittle cagers. Them got their feewings hurt by a kindeygarden kid on a bike. Boo hoo I so sowwy nice mister cager.

Seriously, do you really think they care what we call them? If you can show that they do care, maybe I'll quit using the "C word." When I've told cagers that we call them cagers, they think it's funny. And the smart ones agree that the monthly payments are at least a ball and chain, if not a cage.

[Roody]

He's right though. Dumbass is a descriptive term. So is dimwit, nutcase, and ******bag. None of them are positive. They are all used to show contempt or disdain for the person or people being described. Cager is a kindergarten-like term that some cyclists use to segregate themselves from another demographic. It's not some neutral descriptive term.
Maybe we should use a more descriptive term. Like donut-muncher, crasher, wrecker, polluter, globalwarmer, brainwashed consumer, penis envy-er.

Do you not feel a sense of freedom when you are riding a bike that is lacking when you drive a car? Is a car not in fact a cage, in comparison to a bike? Is it really so disparaging to express this feeling in the language that we use? Or should we pretend to be miserable while riding so the cagers don't get jealous?

[I-Like-To-Bike]

Seriously, do you really think they care what we call them? If you can show that they do care, maybe I'll quit using the "C word." When I've told cagers that we call them cagers, they think it's funny. And the smart ones agree that the monthly payments are at least a ball and chain, if not a cage.
Seriously, don't be so free in dropping the word "We" when extrapolating your thoughts and actions on to ALL other cyclists while proselytizing your agenda. Why do you think think more than a handful of social extremists/outcasts are included in your circle of "we cyclists"?

[genec]

Florida is pretty safe so long as you aren't trying to prove a point by taking a lane in 55mph traffic. Anyone who does that has a screw loose. You just have to pick your routes using common sense, and to know when and how to use the sidewalk if it is absolutely necessary to use that road (hint: follow flow of traffic, so how would a ped deal with a crosswalk).

The only real risk is crossing a 55mph road without any traffic control signals to assist you. That can be done through a skill called patience....sit there and wait until it's clear...it will b e sooner or later. Use the giant center dividers in those roads as a safe resting place to wait for the other direction to clear as well.

Seriously, there are too many whiners in this thread about how bad FL is. The problem is this area has too many people who fail to use common sense in their endeavors here, driver ped and cyclist alike....impatience is not helping things either.

FWIW, I crossed Gandy Blvd (one of the more dangerous roads here) in the 55mph section (St Pete end of the bridge) twice today and felt perfectly safe doing so....oh, and once on the tampa end, so make that three times.

Honestly, yes this place is more dangerous, but it's not the death-trap everyone is making it out to be. Oddly enough I felt safer in Hillsborough County (Tampa) than I do in Pinellas (St. Pete)....and even then it's safe enough that I ride everyday in this mess.


Interesting how you have no problem crossing a 55 MPH road, but won't try to ride on it.

There have been advocates here on BF that have taken the lane on 50MPH roads when there was only one lane available (in spite of detours provided). And those same advocates also insist that riding on 50MPH arterials with their kids in tow is no big deal. Also they argued for access to a 50MPH freeway that paralled an MUP.

<sarcasm on>So clearly your lack of desire to ride on high speed arterials must mean that you are some sort of "chicken" as anybody can ride a bike on a high speed arterial.<sarcasm off>

And yet you call folks "whiners."

[genec]

i don't know, Roody, I kinda like ILTB's imagry in that post- quite original! or rehashed..... "and today's secret word is....."

perhaps cager is a bit disparaging, but why not? Collectively, they hate us.


okay, for those of you suffering from a case of 'Forester's inferiority complex', repeat this mantra while visualizing cheerful cagers asking you if you have any Grey Poupon:

"I am a bulldozer."

+10. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

[Geraldo]

Seriously, do you really think they care what we call them?

No, I don't, but that doesn't mean we should come up with labels for people who differ from us.

Collectively, they hate us.

I seriously doubt that they do anything collectively.

[Roody]

I seriously doubt that they do anything collectively.
Lord knows that we* can't do anything collectively!

*By "we" I mean every cyclist except ILTB cuz he can't be categorized, classified, generalized or pinned down. He's a loose cannon who doesn't play by anybody's rules. ;)

[loosechange]

2 results for: cager
View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | the Web

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
cag?er? /?ke?d??r/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[key-jer] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. Informal. a basketball player.
2. Mining. a machine for putting cars on or off a cage.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1910–15; cage + -er1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
WordNet - Cite This Source
cager

n : an athlete who plays basketball [syn: basketball player, basketeer]

WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

it's funny that people look up slang terms in the dictionary, where slang is most often misinterpreted...

urbandictionary.com has it defined a little better:

1. cager
44 up, 1 down
A term used by motorcyclists to describe someone driving a four wheeled vehicle.

*That cager just cut me off!

2. cager
20 up, 2 down
automobile driver, trapped in their own cage.

*Cagers are sitting in traffic jams again.

3. cager
10 up, 10 down
A basketball player. Professional basketball began in 1896 in New York City and was at one time played on courts enclosed by wire mesh, or cages.

*The cagers played hard that afternoon.

4. cager
6 up, 12 down
A now seldom-used term for a basketball player

*Lincoln High's cagers defeated Roosevelt last night, 58-55.

[San Rensho]

Florida is pretty safe so long as you aren't trying to prove a point by taking a lane in 55mph traffic. Anyone who does that has a screw loose. You just have to pick your routes using common sense, and to know when and how to use the sidewalk if it is absolutely necessary to use that road (hint: follow flow of traffic, so how would a ped deal with a crosswalk).

The only real risk is crossing a 55mph road without any traffic control signals to assist you. That can be done through a skill called patience....sit there and wait until it's clear...it will b e sooner or later. Use the giant center dividers in those roads as a safe resting place to wait for the other direction to clear as well.

Seriously, there are too many whiners in this thread about how bad FL is. The problem is this area has too many people who fail to use common sense in their endeavors here, driver ped and cyclist alike....impatience is not helping things either.

FWIW, I crossed Gandy Blvd (one of the more dangerous roads here) in the 55mph section (St Pete end of the bridge) twice today and felt perfectly safe doing so....oh, and once on the tampa end, so make that three times.

Honestly, yes this place is more dangerous, but it's not the death-trap everyone is making it out to be. Oddly enough I felt safer in Hillsborough County (Tampa) than I do in Pinellas (St. Pete)....and even then it's safe enough that I ride everyday in this mess.


I'll trade you. Come down here to Miami and ride around for a while and I guarantee you you will change your tune. The drivers here are homicidal maniacs towards bicyclists. They go out of their way to buzz you, cut you off, honk and rant and rave at you. Its easier for me to count the days that I don't have some kind of run in with a car than count the days I do. And I ride every day.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

Lord knows that we* can't do anything collectively!

*By "we" I mean every cyclist except ILTB cuz he can't be categorized, classified, generalized or pinned down. He's a loose cannon who doesn't play by anybody's rules. ;)
Good, leave me out of your collective of counter culture proselytizers. Better yet, leave bicycling advocacy out when ranting about the all ills of society being rooted in the use of the automobile.

Save it for your dropout pals/choir on a different BF list. They might be impressed with associating bicycling with social/political/economic wackiness, few others in the public realm will be positively influenced towards bicycling with your typical Cager/Rager rants.