Originally Posted by
Hyperbole
I almost had a collision with an obvious bike newb last week after calling "on your right" (I don't normally pass on the right but he was hogging the left side riding under 10mph and swerving slightly). As I came up behind him I called "on your right" and he immediately swerved right into my path almost making me collide with bridge guardrail on my right. I think some people can confuse "on your right" with "get to the right". That's the only explanation I can come up with.
I'm one of those people for whom left and right are commonly mixed so one time, I did the reverse of what you had done, intending to indicate that I was passing on their left, I called out to the joggers in front of me, "Passing right!" but I was fortunately far enough behind them when they moved as I had directed to be able to swerve to the open side and pass them.
For me, therefore, a bell, or just calling/yelling out "Passing" is a better idea (none of which work on a headphoned person).