I guess this is going to make me look a complete Noddy but since that has never stopped me before... I am the only person to get confused between Offside and Nearside? I am prompted to post this by a sign on the M1 near Sheffield which says something like ' Meadowhall: use nearside lane' (or was it offside??). It was obviously the left most lane that was meant since there are not too many motorway exits that go from the right hand lane so why not just use 'left lane'? Equally, why do garages insisit on talking about off- and nearsides as well. What is wrong with driver's and passenger's sides?
Where is the logic in offside amd nearside? Near what? Off what?
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Near, Port and Left all have four letters.
Off, Starboard and Right do not.
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Near the kerb. Off the kerb - away or far side might be better I guess. But then we talk about inside and outside lanes as well just to confuse. Ah well....
Richard
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"...nearside? Near what?"
The kerb.
Stu.
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Driver's side or passenger's side would be confusing if one had a left-hand-drive car......
Nearside or offside is at least consistent as long as one stays in the same country!
It makes for easier ordering of parts, description of damage to a car, etc.
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but lefthand is consistently lefthand and righthand is consistenly right hand, no matter what you're driving or what conutry you are in ??
when you've got tired of driving ...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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but lefthand is consistently lefthand and righthand is consistenly right hand,
That depends whether you're standing in front of the car facing towards it or away from it.
If you're facing it, the nearside is on your righthand side, but if you're facing away from it, the nearside becomes your lefthand side.
Nearside will always be nearside, and offside will always be offside.
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nearside is the side you get on a horse. when "driving" a horse you always pass to the left of the oncoming nag so that you can draw your sword, if required (horse rage?). naploean decided that all countries he conquered would pass on the other side.subserviant thing i suppose.
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I never understood it either. The highway code used to refer to nearside and farside when describing how two cars in opposing directions should turn right at a cross roads. Latest edition refers to passenger side and driver side. I guess it must have been confusing.
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Driver's side or passenger's side would be confusing if one had a left-hand-drive car......
That would be one built for driving on the left then !;-(
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> a sign near the M1 near Sheffield which says
>something like 'Meadowhall: use nearside lane'
What the sign near Sheffield really ought to say, in small letters underneath, is "but it would probably be better if you just carried straight on, especially if you're reading this on a Sunday".
Said lane causes all kinds of confusion to them wot aren't Sheffielders because it turns into a slip road, and the M1 over Tinsley viaduct becomes a two-laner, and there's a lot of lane switching at either end of it as people realise they're going to end up at Debenhams instead of Leeds. Actually, it does this at both ends. And on a Sunday, the slip road becomes a very, very long carpark.
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Eyup, Carole, was that you in the Pink carpark this afternoon?
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The real reason for the "nearside lane" M1 sign is to confuse johnny foreigners who keep holidaying over here.
Nearside to them is right side...........so they miss Meadowhall and end up in Scotland.
This serves 'em right for driving on the wrong side of the road back home.
I know these things.............
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No, I was too busy trying to squeeze my car into one of those tiny JLP car parking spaces. But actually I was in t' Peace Gardens, the other day - or, more exactly, in t'Town Hall, and very posh it was too!
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Look, I keep posting these in the right place and they end up all over the place. Tch.
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Look, I keep posting these in the right place and they end up all over the place. Tch.
Me too, Carole.
I'm easily confused..........................
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Good grief, that was in place. What went right?
I'm even more confused..................
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No you are not the only one Robin.
In the Automotive industry, it is standard to refer to right hand or left hand from the perspective of the driver in his seat. So: right hand side, left hand side, right hand drive, left hand drive. No confusion, no matter where the wheel is.
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It really is an archaic term from days gone by that only still exists to allow people from "the trade" to appear in the know. What next? Shall I refer to tyres as horseshoes and the steering wheel as reins?
Whilst I'm ranting - why are we still using inches, miles, pounds and stones for that matter?
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Whilst I'm ranting - why are we still using inches miles pounds and stones for that matter?
Because we can.
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why are we still using inches
because Audi drivers find it hard to estimate 2.54 cms
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an archaic term from days gone >>
cor blimey! gadzooks! someone replying to and reviving a seven year old thread!
why are we still using inches, miles, pounds and stones for that matter? >>
Zookes thou art so brave a fellow that I will stick to thee.
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Words often come into acceptance through common usage rather than via a logical reason. For example, nowadays most people say "reiterate" when they mean "repeat". However, this wasn't always acceptable. My 1920s dictionary says that "iterate" means "repeat", and "reiterate" means" repeat over and over again".
Edited by L'escargot on 22/08/2009 at 08:51
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Left and right can be confusing - is it left from the pilot's view or an observer's view. Nearside explains it perfectly (way to remember is side nearest the verge when driving is the nearside)
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When SWMBO "reiterates" then she never merely "repeats".
No, she repeats " over and over again". (and over, and over, and over ........)
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The simple formula for remembering which is offside and which is nearside is to think that the dark side of the moon is the offside whereas near means the opposite to far (out!)
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But when you are driving a rhd car on the continent, do I look in the nearside mirror to see the traffic coming past on the offside?
Do manufacturers spares designation still refer to o/s or n/s ?
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AFAIK the UK is the only place(S) the use the terms off and near side.
Thus the nearside is always leftside, and offside is always rightside.
manufacturers use different designations depending on their home country, and which day of the week the info was produced!
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The simple formula for remembering which is offside and which is nearside is to think that the dark side of the moon is the offside whereas near means the opposite to far (out!)
If you know a complicated formula as well, please keep it to yourself as that one has started one of my headaches.
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i was told that "off" side was the side you dismounted from a horse before cars were invented
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i was told that "off" side was the side you dismounted from a horse before cars were invented
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That wouldn't be right as nearly everyone dismounts from the left, as with cycles and motorcycles.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 22/08/2009 at 18:16
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nearly everyone dismounts from the left as with cycles ......
My "party trick" when I was a young cyclist was to mount/dismount on the right. Most cyclists can't do it, presumably because they've never practised it.
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I've always done this - its the only way I can get my leg over! (Yes, I do the same on a bike!)
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Repeating as in "When I've had a vindaloo?" I hope not!
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watch films with horse dimounts, im sure henry v dimounted trouser side:)
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From Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
"Left side and right side. ?Near wheel? means that to the coachman?s left hand; and ?near horse? (in a pair) means that to the left hand of the driver. In a four-in-hand the two horses on the left side of the coachman are the near wheeler and the near leader. Those on the right hand side of the coachman are ?off horses.? This, which seems an anomaly, arose when the driver walked beside his team. The teamster always walks with his right arm nearest the horse, and therefore, in a pair of horses, the horse on the left side is nearer than the one on his right. 1
Thus, 2 is the near wheeler and 1 the near leader, 4 is the off wheeler and 3 the off leader.
Edited by CGNorwich on 23/08/2009 at 11:50
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Wonderfull stuff! So the near wheel actually only means the rear left-hand wheel - the front left hand wheel is the near-leader. I must remember that next time my car fails an MOT.
Actually you only have to follow conversations between people trying to describe components under the bonnet to realise the confusion between left and right. Left as viewed normally when opening the bonnet, or left as it would appear from the driver's seat, if the bonnet wasn't in the way?
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I don't get confused between nearside and offside, but I do get my left and right mixed up. Strangely, when driving in France I have no problem with driving on the other side of the road, but my mind seems to automatically flip left and right too, so that a left turn means turn off on my own side, while a right turn means turn off on the other side, giving way to oncoming traffic.
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