1938 film showing some highway driving

[mobilene]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O7lQTsiaWM

This film, made by Ford in 1938, shows a fair amount of shots of driving around on highways of the day.  The film is kind of washed out, so it's hard to make out any of the signage, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

jim

[Duke87]

This may cause a tragedy!


Very interesting indeed.

[froggie]

At around 6:12, there is a pair of US route shield cutouts (and what looks like another pair at 7:14)...can't tell which route numbers, though.  But given that it's an auto-industry video, and it mentions 83 counties that gas tax was distributed to, it's likely somewhere in Michigan.

Note the traffic signal at around 6:56.

[Truvelo]

At 3:10 it mentions overtaking and passing. Is overtaking a word that's used over there? Everyone seems to call it passing. Here in the UK we tend to use overtaking exclusively.

[froggie]

Overtaking is an older term over here, and still gets used in some driver's manuals.  Only rarely do I hear it in common parlance, though.

[rawmustard]

At 3:10 it mentions overtaking and passing. Is overtaking a word that's used over there? Everyone seems to call it passing. Here in the UK we tend to use overtaking exclusively.

Technically, overtaking is not immediately returning to the travel lane of the other vehicle while passing is, although I can see how the terms would get used interchangably.

[J N Winkler]

Technically, overtaking is not immediately returning to the travel lane of the other vehicle while passing is, although I can see how the terms would get used interchangably.

The technical meaning in the US is not the same as the common meaning in Britain.  Overtaking in Britain means the same as passing here, including the return to the regular driving lane in front of the other vehicle.

In contradistinction, passing in the American sense is used so rarely in Britain that it is a fairly reliable marker for American origin.

[Chris]

I've also read of the term "undertaking"  (as in: passing right instead of left). Is that word actually used?

[froggie]

Have not heard of "undertaking" at all.

[agentsteel53]

the only time I've heard "undertaking" used was by a native German speaker.  I had thought he'd simply made up the word by analogy from "overtaking".

[english si]

We use it in the UK as short hand for illegal overtaking on the left. I mean passing - overtaking in the US technical sense of basically moving to another lane and staying there in order to get past the vehicle in front is allowed on the left (providing there's actually a lane there.

And of course, there's other meanings of the word - like in "the DOT is undertaking a project to build a highway from London to Paris.", plus you have undertakers undertake to sort out funerals.

[J N Winkler]

We use it in the UK as short hand for illegal overtaking on the left.

The equivalent in the American context (which is illegal in some but by no means all states) is passing on the right.

And of course, there's other meanings of the word - like in "the DOT is undertaking a project to build a highway from London to Paris.", plus you have undertakers undertake to sort out funerals.

Or, in Britain, statutory undertaking ("stats" in the abbreviated plural in UK highway engineering contexts) = public service utility.  I think the "statutory" element of the phrase comes from the fact that most utilities in the UK were created through private bill legislation.  Statutory undertaking has crowded out utility in British English usage to almost the same extent that overtaking has crowded out passing, to the extent that "utility" (when used to refer to networked infrastructure) is almost as reliable a marker of American origin.

[english si]

—verb (used with object)
1.to take upon oneself, as a task, performance, etc.; attempt: She undertook the job of answering all the mail.
2.to promise, agree, or obligate oneself (fol. by an infinitive): The married couple undertook to love, honor, and cherish each other.
3.to warrant or guarantee (fol. by a clause): The sponsors undertake that their candidate meets all the requirements.
4. to take in charge; assume the duty of attending to: The lawyer undertook a new case.

There's some overlap in the meanings - my sentence involves meaning 1, meaning 2 and meaning 4 - the DOT, in undertaking the project, has assumed the duty of attending to the project, promising to do it, having taking it on themselves to build a highway from London to Paris (though it seems one already exists, going the long way around, via Poland).

The overtake-related homonym isn't offical language at all. I think it comes from it being that if going to the right of someone is to 'over'take them, then going to the left must be to 'under'take them, as under is the opposite side to over.

You can undertake an overtake - but that would involve the nouning of the verb "overtake", so it's better to say "I will undertake to overtake that lorry" (if you are going to use British, you don't want any of that American 'truck')

[agentsteel53]

The overtake-related homonym isn't offical language at all. I think it comes from it being that if going to the right of someone is to 'over'take them, then going to the left must be to 'under'take them, as under is the opposite side to over.

seems like the precise thing my German friend would do!  his English is excellent; apparently they teach British English in German schools where he grew up, so "overtake" would be part of his vocabulary, as opposed to "pass".

[J N Winkler]

Undertaking is also meant (to some extent) as a macabre joke:  if you routinely "undertake" vehicles on the highway, the undertakers will have you in their clutches sooner rather than later.

[Chris]

his English is excellent; apparently they teach British English in German schools where he grew up, so "overtake" would be part of his vocabulary, as opposed to "pass".

I assume they teach British English everywhere in Europe. They did so in the Netherlands as well, but I don't think most are aware of the substantial differences, and since most non-native TV programs are American, most people end up using a mix of British and American English.

[6a]

apparently they teach British English in German schools where he grew up

I had a German friend that was indeed taught the Queen's English.  He said they were told to be careful while using words with a 'sa' in it so they don't say God shave the Queen.