Road enthusiast slang dictionary

Started by bugo, January 27, 2013, 05:43:29 PM

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empirestate

Quote from: spmkam on January 31, 2013, 08:25:32 PM
In the NYC metro area there are many parkways open to only passenger cars because of these overpasses.

That's a bit of a misconception: it's not because of the overpasses that commercial vehicles are restricted. After all, you'll note that many types of vehicles that could easily fit under the overpasses are banned nevertheless, such as hearses, small school buses, or the pickup truck belonging to your painting company. (You can, of course, register a pickup with passenger plates so that you may drive on the parkways. Rules for this have been relaxed in recent years.)

Rather, commercial vehicles are banned because they don't function within the intended recreational nature of the parkways. Since "commercial vehicles" includes large trucks, it wasn't necessary to design large enough bridges to accommodate them, and furthermore, it's often claimed that their design was intentionally myopic so that the commercial ban couldn't easily be rescinded in the future. That may have been a consideration, but I'm not sure it was ever a primary deciding factor.


bugo

Quote from: empirestate on February 01, 2013, 12:30:38 PM
Rather, commercial vehicles are banned because they don't function within the intended recreational nature of the parkways.

That's silly.  Roads, especially in a large metro area, should be built to get traffic from one point to the other in the shortest distance.  I can see banning huge trucks, but pickup trucks?  Do these bans extend to tiny pickups like the old Chevy Luv or Ford Courier?

A.J. Bertin

Quote from: roadman on January 28, 2013, 05:20:44 PM
Quote from: bugo on January 27, 2013, 08:41:06 PM

Another term I hate is "roadgeek."  It makes me want to abandon the hobby.  I'm not a geek damnit!

Glad to see I'n not the only one here who despises the term.

What term do you guys usually use... "road enthusiast"? I don't have a problem with the term "roadgeek". It's simpler and more concise in my opinion.
-A.J. from Michigan

empirestate

Quote from: bugo on February 01, 2013, 12:45:32 PM
Quote from: empirestate on February 01, 2013, 12:30:38 PM
Rather, commercial vehicles are banned because they don't function within the intended recreational nature of the parkways.

That's silly.  Roads, especially in a large metro area, should be built to get traffic from one point to the other in the shortest distance.  I can see banning huge trucks, but pickup trucks?  Do these bans extend to tiny pickups like the old Chevy Luv or Ford Courier?

Why, that's exactly why they were built: to get traffic from one point (the city) to another (its recreational sites) efficiently. Since commercial vehicles wouldn't have much reason to travel to recreational sites, there wouldn't be any need to design these roads for them.

Also, don't forget that your view isn't universally held. Aesthetic reasons can also be invoked for building roads, not merely utilitarian ones. The same goes for buildings and other engineering works of course. In fact, I'd argue that major cities would be more likely to want roads for reasons other than mere transportation, since they have a wider range (or at least a higher concentration) of recreational, cultural and aesthetic interests.

And yes, small pickups or even Fiats and Smart cars would be banned if they are commercially registered or used (a big hint is if the name of your business is printed on the vehicles). Bicycles are also not allowed, though for presumably different reasons of safety.

At the end of the day, silly it may or may not be. It's also silly, of course, to use a parkway for your daily commute, since it leads to an amount of traffic and style of driving that's entirely contrary to the roads' purpose. Or conversely, perhaps it's silly to build a road for recreational purposes and not expect it to have a useful commercial purpose as well. Or perhaps what's silly is that passenger vehicles are also permitted on the expressways, since they are the primary domain of commercial traffic.

bugo

Quote from: empirestate on February 01, 2013, 01:25:14 PM
It's also silly, of course, to use a parkway for your daily commute, since it leads to an amount of traffic and style of driving that's entirely contrary to the roads' purpose. Or conversely, perhaps it's silly to build a road for recreational purposes and not expect it to have a useful commercial purpose as well. Or perhaps what's silly is that passenger vehicles are also permitted on the expressways, since they are the primary domain of commercial traffic.

It's not silly if it's the quickest route.

bugo

Quote from: A.J. Bertin on February 01, 2013, 01:19:09 PM
Quote from: roadman on January 28, 2013, 05:20:44 PM
Quote from: bugo on January 27, 2013, 08:41:06 PM

Another term I hate is "roadgeek."  It makes me want to abandon the hobby.  I'm not a geek damnit!

Glad to see I'n not the only one here who despises the term.

What term do you guys usually use... "road enthusiast"? I don't have a problem with the term "roadgeek". It's simpler and more concise in my opinion.

Anything is better than "roadgeek."  I prefer "road enthusiast" or "Roads Scholar."

SSOWorld

Oh boy do I love the Political Correctness - it has invaded the roadgeek world as well.  Toss that PC out the window guys and grow a nut! Be glad you're not called a viatologist :ded:
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

Wisconsin - out-multiplexing your state since 1918.

bugo

I'd rather be called a "vitalogist" or whatever than a "roadgeek."  "Geek" will never cease to have negative connotations to me.

Duke87

Quote from: Stalin on February 01, 2013, 03:01:33 PM
Quote from: empirestate on February 01, 2013, 01:25:14 PM
It's also silly, of course, to use a parkway for your daily commute, since it leads to an amount of traffic and style of driving that's entirely contrary to the roads' purpose. Or conversely, perhaps it's silly to build a road for recreational purposes and not expect it to have a useful commercial purpose as well. Or perhaps what's silly is that passenger vehicles are also permitted on the expressways, since they are the primary domain of commercial traffic.

It's not silly if it's the quickest route.

The New York area parkways were conceived and built mostly in the prewar era, through areas that were at the time mostly rural. Their builders did not foresee the massive explosion of suburbia that would follow WWII, and the demand for using an automobile to commute that would come with it.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

froggie

One I'm no longer a fan of:  BGS.  I prefer the proper terminology of "guide sign(age)".

cjk374

In a world full of acronyms, especially in the railroad universe & text messaging, there are some that still escape my understanding.  Some I can look at and understand, others not so much.  One I've seen here on this forum is "FTFY". What does this stand for?
Runnin' roads and polishin' rails.

Alps

Quote from: cjk374 on February 02, 2013, 12:06:58 PM
In a world full of acronyms, especially in the railroad universe & text messaging, there are some that still escape my understanding.  Some I can look at and understand, others not so much.  One I've seen here on this forum is "FTFY". What does this stand for?
Well... in a world full of Internet, the easiest answer is "You can Google something you don't know!"

spmkam

Certain commercial vehicles can use the parkways. I know there is a special commercial license plate that allows them to use it. But, the short overpasses are the reason why large buses and trucks cannot.

kphoger

Quote from: Steve on February 02, 2013, 12:18:24 PM
Quote from: cjk374 on February 02, 2013, 12:06:58 PM
In a world full of acronyms, especially in the railroad universe & text messaging, there are some that still escape my understanding.  Some I can look at and understand, others not so much.  One I've seen here on this forum is "FTFY". What does this stand for?
Well... in a world full of Internet, the easiest answer is "You can Google something you don't know!"

Seriously.

FTFY stands for Google.  If you do a Google search for ftfy, you get your answer on the first hit without even reading more than the short view.

He Is Already Here! Let's Go, Flamingo!
Dost thou understand the graveness of the circumstances?
Deut 23:13
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: PKDIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

J N Winkler

LMGTFY will indeed turn up a gloss for FTFY.  Personally, I think it is something to be used with caution because of its long history of use as a snark--"FTFY" usually but not always means the text quoted from a post has been changed to a sense completely opposite of what the original poster intended.

For this reason, when I correct spelling or grammatical errors which I don't want in my post, I do so silently.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

kphoger

Thought:

To what extent do trucker CB jargon and road enthusiast slang coincide?

He Is Already Here! Let's Go, Flamingo!
Dost thou understand the graveness of the circumstances?
Deut 23:13
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: PKDIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

on_wisconsin

"Speed does not kill, suddenly becoming stationary... that's what gets you" - Jeremy Clarkson

froggie

QuoteTo what extent do trucker CB jargon and road enthusiast slang coincide?

Given what CB jargon was 10-15 years ago, almost none.  Haven't had a CB since the early 2000s, so couldn't say what the truckers currently share, but can't imagine it's much different than back then.

empirestate

Quote from: spmkam on February 02, 2013, 01:18:43 PM
Certain commercial vehicles can use the parkways. I know there is a special commercial license plate that allows them to use it. But, the short overpasses are the reason why large buses and trucks cannot.

It's definitely a reason why they cannot, but not the only reason they're restricted (otherwise they would be allowed on those parkways where bridge clearance isn't an issue). And yes, there are ways to apply for permits to use parkways in restricted vehicles (notably, buses in certain situations), but no variety of commercial vehicle has a blanket authority to use them. Even non-commercial vehicles with logos or signs on them can't go, bridge clearance notwithstanding (which would kind of suck if you use Zipcar). I think the type of plate you're thinking of is simply a passenger plate used by a pickup, or is there something else you can show us that I haven't seen?

It's a bit confusing, since there are different agencies responsible for parkways that may have slightly different rules and definitions. Here's a link to the rules for Hudson Valley parkways: http://www.hudsonvalleytraveler.com/perl/ParkwaysOverview.pl

Also note that the restrictions aren't necessarily codified into law, only that the agencies in charge of parkways are given the authority to restrict them. As a result, comprehensive details of the rules are a bit hard to come by (the oft-cited NYSDOT brochure doesn't really deal with the subject in a very authoritative way). However, what's clear to me is that commercial vehicles are always classed by their function, not their size or weight.

I am, of course, willing and eager to see citations of additional or contrary rules that may add to my understanding of the situation. I certainly find myself having a lot of questions about vehicles I see using the parkways!

bandit957

Another Roads Scholar expression is "Allowed Cloud", which is when somebody isn't allowed to do something.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

hbelkins

I always use "FIFY" instead of "FTFY."

Since no one has provided an answer -- Fixed It For You and Fixed That For You.
Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

route56

Quote from: kphoger on February 02, 2013, 02:52:27 PM
Thought:

To what extent do trucker CB jargon and road enthusiast slang coincide?

"Yeah, Breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You got a copy on me Pig Pen, come on."

Seriously, aside from occasionally referring to interstate weigh stations as "Chicken Coops," I don't think I've integrated much trucker slang into the roadgeek world.
Peace to you, and... don't drive like my brother.

R.P.K.

US71

Quote from: Stalin on February 01, 2013, 05:56:24 PM
I'd rather be called a "vitalogist" or whatever than a "roadgeek."  "Geek" will never cease to have negative connotations to me.


Road Scholar :)
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

corco

If you think geek sounds...geeky, "Roads Scholar" just makes you sound like a pretentious asshole, even if you're just being ironic.

US71

Quote from: corco on February 02, 2013, 09:25:13 PM
If you think geek sounds...geeky, "Roads Scholar" just makes you sound like a pretentious asshole, even if you're just being ironic.

Still beats Vitameatavegamintologist ;)
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast



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