BobbyG

Most of us are familiar with the term "Salmon" or "Salmoning" meaning to cyclists who ride against the traffic stream like the fish salmon swimming upstream against the current to spawn; although I shudder to think of cycling salmons spawning.

On the way home today I played a game of "chicken" with a few different squirrels, you know, how squirrels will run out into the street partway, freeze and then seem to threaten to run in front of you by quick, darting, feignting moves across the street and back to the curb. Well then I encountered some pedestrians, mostly students from the nearby college I assume who kept darting into the street, and seeing me, kept stepping further, then back, then further, and one who walked out as far as they felt safe as if to dare me. I decided to call these pedestrians and their behavior "squirrels" and "squirreling". You may also encounter this behavior while driving.

Then finally I witnessed another behavior which I have seen before, but have no name for...perhaps one of you can coin a term.

As I pedalled up a long, straight side street up ahead I could see two casual-looking cyclists, sans helmets in non-cyclingclothes, on older mountain bikes, driftingfrom curb to curb in long lazy arcs, puffing on vapor-cigs, or whatever they're called, oblivious to the cars coming up behind them. I usually reserve the term "obliviot" for motorists, as that is how automotive journalist Brock Yates used the term, but now that I think about it that term will do.

I still would like to know if you have terms you use for certain behaviors in traffic,either by cyclists or motorists. You know, like "bike ninja" for a dark-clothed, non-reflective cyclist or pedestrian.

flangehead

It's not a behavior, but for me motor vehicles without daytime running lights behind me are dark matter. They are harder to see in the mirror and often I first detect them when they eclipse vehicles with DRL.

BobbyG

Excellent.

mcours2006

'Obliviots'. I like that one. One time there was woman with a dog standing on the double yellow line median with earbuds looking down at her device with traffic going both directions, including me on my bike going 40 km/h on a slight downgrade. The car beside me decided to slow down to let her pass. I did not. The 'obliviot' crosses anyway, nearly colliding with me, and she had the gall to utter something my way. I half thought about turning around and yelling at her, but decided not to.

Why try to change her behaviour? She can keep doing that, and maybe one day she won't be so lucky.

I-Like-To-Bike

A term that comes to mind for cyclists who like to use cutesy names to belittle cyclists, motorists and/or pedestrians whom they consider not as "serious" as themselves: sanctimonious jack donkeys.

BobbyG

Well, that certainly took the fun out of it.

alan s 

I hope we don't have to come up with a term for the e-cig smokers. Haven't seen any yet. There are shops popping up around here called Avail Vapors. I first time I saw one, I could have sworn is was called Anal Vapors, which would be a strange name for a store. Who would be selling farts?

cvskates

Do you see how hypocritical this post is?

mcours2006

Also a term that comes to mind for crusty old BF geezers who like to belittle/ridicule other BF's posts: jack donkeys.

alan s 

Nah. We just call them jackasses.

alan s 

Maybe we can call them "steam suckers." The vapor dudes, that is.

mcours2006

Killjoys? Debbie-downer? That guy?

Daniel4

People who post in discussion forums just to complain about other people's posts on discussions forums? Trolls.

BobbyG

OK, I can see how I-Like-To-Bike may have perceived me as a belittling cyclists and others as not as "serious" as myself.

But that is not the case. And in my defense I will point to a response I posted last September regarding who is a serious cyclist.

"My daily bike commute takes me by some homeless camps and through hardscrabble neighborhoods where many people don't have bus fare to get to work or social services. You see them riding their old, abused bikes with their impossibly out-of-true-wheels, dangling brake cables, disconnected shifters often rolling on a flat or two. Seats askew riding too low for human comfort, foam padding exposed through worn vinyl. They wear somebody elses cast-off clothing wearing backpacks, or carying bedrolls and duffels on a rack, sometimes carrying a baby trailer full of belongings bungeed to a rear rack or just the seatpost. No helmet, no lights no gloves, not even in the rain or snow, wearing too much in the summer and too little in the winter, they press on at slightly bettere than walking speed, determined to get to that job, that shelter, that other place, whatever it is; they pedal with a drive and determination that rivals the titans of the tour. Those people to whom a bike is an essential lifeline...THEY are the serious cyclists.

The rest of us are hobbyists."

Darth Lefty 

I'm satisfied with the bestiary provided. Although maybe I need a name for anglers dripping salmon gore (actual salmon not bike salmon) on the bike trail next to the dam.

I-Like-To-Bike

Don't worry, you will find lots of BC (Bicycling Correct) comrades who have fun belittling those they consider less worthy by calling them cutesy names.

BTW, what does the subject of name calling have to do with bicycle commuting?

rhm

You guys are a bunch of name-callers!


Okay, seriously, as a Manhattan cyclist what really puzzles me is the pedestrians who get to a crosswalk, see that it's red, and step out five or ten feet to get the jump on all the other pedestrians when the light changes; and then get out the phone and start looking at the screen. You will often see a dozen people standing in the street, checking the weather or their texts of something. They make things really difficult for a cyclist trying to make an illegal turn on red . The illegal turn on red is of course the cyclist's best option, because once the light goes green, there's no polite way to get across the mass of pedestrians crossing legally.

BobbyG

Manhattan-nots or may-hattanites.

salm-bonis (they recondition the surface, but with fish guts, rather than ice).

RubeRad

OK I'll help (?)

I'd love a good nickname for those well-intentioned but annoying drivers that arrive at a 4-way stop after you have already stopped and put your foot down (doing your best to follow the law) and wave you through.

Nicediots?

Also, kind of more in the department of doored, right-hooked, left-hooked, sharrows, etc, what is a good name for that kind of 3-way stoplight where a bike can safely (although probably not quite legally) go through a red light because there's only a road on the left (UK: right)? The best I can think for that is 'through-T'

Daniel4

Why are they annoying? Would you rather have them proceed through and cut you off? Were you trying to waive them through even though you had arrived first? Is following the law really annoying?

RubeRad

Yes I want them to proceed through the intersection. It's not cutting me off, they got to the intersection first, that's why I stopped. They are annoying because I threw away hard-earned momentum to stop because it's the rules (just like if I was in a car). If I had somehow known beforehand that they were going to wave me through I could have just coasted through and retained my momentum. But instead, I'm trying to be a law-abiding citizen and do my part to improve the driving public's opinion of cyclists by respecting the rules of the road, and by waving me through out of turn, they're ignoring my good behavior.

Even worse is when they wave me through when we end up going the same direction, then I'm in front of them, and I have to squeeze right, and they have to swerve left to get past me again. If they had just taken their turn, they wouldn't have gotten stuck behind me in the first place.

mcours2006

They're annoying because if they had followed the law which states that the vehicle arriving at the four-way stop intersection first has the right away I would not have had to come to a complete stop. Yeah, I know someone will call me out, saying I should come to a complete stop anyway. But had that car done what it was supposed to do then I could have just slowed down, checked to see that there are no other cars approaching, and then proceeded through.

This often happens when the car is already at the intersection, and I can count...one...two....three...four...five seconds before I am at the intersection, and yet the car is still there, waiting for me to get there. I come to a complete stop because I think he's waiting until I come to a complete stop before he goes, and often times he waves me through.

Yes, completely annoying.

BobbyG

Cycle-phants? (like sychophants)
Is it an act of "conde-section"? (Condesention at intersections)

55murray

I think Nicediots will work as well for those who stop or pause in one lane of a 4-5 lane road and try to wave you across. No thanks, I choose life. I mean, what are they thinking!

Daniel4

OK, I thought it was the other way around. Bicycle arriving at the four-way stop first and being waived through.

But it’s the motorist who arrived first and waiving you through then end up having them tail you all the way.

No, it's never happened to me. What has happened was when motorists cut me off as I'm entering the intersection because I was there first and had come to a full stop then proceeded.