Did you ever wonder why/Well I never knew that!!

[matriarch]

A thread for little gems of miscellaneous information......'eureka' moments, when you finally discover why something is the way it is.......

My first little gem comes about as a result of an on-road conversation with the wife during a drive around the countryside yesterday.........


Why do americans drive on right and Britons on left?

In the UK, we drive on the left because the Romans did.

As for Europe, they tend to drive on the same side as Americans because when Napoleon conquered the continent he enforced French law, which had people driving on the right.

All the countries that opposed Napoleon stuck to driving on the left.

Well I never !!

 

[matriarch]

A thread for little gems of miscellaneous information......'eureka' moments, when you finally discover why something is the way it is.......

My first little gem comes about as a result of an on-road conversation with the wife during a drive around the countryside yesterday.........


Why do americans drive on right and Britons on left?

In the UK, we drive on the left because the Romans did.

As for Europe, they tend to drive on the same side as Americans because when Napoleon conquered the continent he enforced French law, which had people driving on the right.

All the countries that opposed Napoleon stuck to driving on the left.

Well I never !!

I didn't think that sounded too plausible, so I did some more digging and came up with this, from the US Department of Transport:

There seem to be many theories, but the Conestoga wagon may have secured the practice...

"The wagon was operated either by the postilion driver riding the left-hand near horse-called the wheel horse-or by the driver walking or sitting on a "lazy board" on the left-hand side of the vehicle. He kept to the left in both cases in order to use the right hand to manage the horses and operate the brake level mounted on the left-hand side. Passing therefore required moving to the right to give the driver forward vision."

Source(s): US Dept. of Transportation

 

[Recidiva]

capers are the pickled buds of the nasturtium flower.

cream of tartar is a by-product of making wine.

(I like lots of trivia)

 

[matriarch]

And there's more............who'd have thought that deciding on which side of the road to drive would entail so much politics, so much social change......and so much time.

About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world; but there is a perfectly good reason.

In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.

In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 gave a huge impetus to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent events, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.

Later, Napoleon's conquests spread the new rightism to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy. The states that had resisted Napoleon kept left – Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal. This European division, between the left- and right-hand nations would remain fixed for more than 100 years, until after the First World War.

Although left-driving Sweden ceded Finland to right-driving Russia after the Russo-Swedish War (1808-1809), Swedish law – including traffic regulations – remained valid in Finland for another 50 years. It wasn’t until 1858 that an Imperial Russian decree made Finland swap sides.

The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right, but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenisation. With the expansion of travel and road building in the 1800s, traffic regulations were made in every country. Left-hand driving was made mandatory in Britain in 1835. Countries which were part of the British Empire followed suit. This is why to this very day, India, Australasia and the former British colonies in Africa go left. An exception to the rule, however, is Egypt, which had been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency.

Although Japan was never part of the British Empire, its traffic also goes to the left. Although the origin of this habit goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when Samurai ruled the country, it wasn’t until 1872 that this unwritten rule became more or less official. That was the year when Japan’s first railway was introduced, built with technical aid from the British. Gradually, a massive network of railways and tram tracks was built, and of course all trains and trams drove on the left-hand side. Still, it took another half century till in 1924 left-side driving was clearly written in a law.

When the Dutch arrived in Indonesia in 1596, they brought along their habit of driving on the left. It wasn't until Napoleon conquered the Netherlands that the Dutch started driving on the right. Most of their colonies, however, remained on the left as did Indonesia and Suriname.

In the early years of English colonisation of North America, English driving customs were followed and the colonies drove on the left. After gaining independence from England, however, they were anxious to cast off all remaining links with their British colonial past and gradually changed to right-hand driving. (Incidentally, the influence of other European countries’ nationals should not be underestimated.) The first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, and similar laws were passed in New York in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813.

Despite the developments in the US, some parts of Canada continued to drive on the left until shortly after the Second World War. The territory controlled by the French (from Quebec to Louisiana) drove on the right, but the territory occupied by the English (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) kept left. British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces switched to the right in the 1920s in order to conform with the rest of Canada and the USA. Newfoundland drove on the left until 1947, and joined Canada in 1949.

In Europe, the remaining left-driving countries switched one by one to driving on the right. Portugal changed in 1920s. The change took place on the same day in the whole country, including the colonies. Territories, however, which bordered other left-driving countries were exempted. That is why Macau, Goa (now part of India) and Portuguese East Africa kept the old system. East Timor, which borders left-driving Indonesia, did change to the right though, but left-hand traffic was reintroduced by the Indonesians in 1975.

In Italy the practice of driving on the right first began in the late 1890s. The first Italian Highway Code, issued on the 30th of June 1912, stated that all vehicles had to drive on the right. Cities with a tram network, however, could retain left-hand driving if they placed warning signs at their city borders. The 1923 decree is a bit stricter, but Rome and the northern cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa could still keep left until further orders from the Ministry of Public Works. By the mid-1920s, right-hand driving became finally standard throughout the country. Rome made the change on the 1 of March 1925 and Milan on the 3rd of August 1926.

Up till the 1930s Spain lacked national traffic regulations. Some parts of the country drove on the right (e.g. Barcelona) and other parts drove on the left (e.g. Madrid). On the 1st of October 1924 Madrid switched to driving on the right.

The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused no change: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary continued to drive on the left. Austria itself was something of a curiosity. Half the country drove on the left and half on the right. The dividing line was precisely the area affected by Napoleon's conquests in 1805.

When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Hitler ordered that the traffic should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. The change threw the driving public into turmoil, because motorists were unable to see most road signs. In Vienna it proved impossible to change the trams overnight, so while all other traffic took to the right-hand side of the road, the trams continued to run on the left for several weeks. Czechoslovakia and Hungary, one of the last states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939.

Meanwhile, the power of the right kept growing steadily. American cars were designed to be driven on the right by locating the drivers' controls on the vehicle's left side. With the mass production of reliable and economical cars in the United States, initial exports used the same design, and out of necessity many countries changed their rule of the road.

Gibraltar changed to right-hand traffic in 1929 and China in 1946. Korea now drives right, but only because it passed directly from Japanese colonial rule to American and Russian influence at the end of the Second World War. Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change. Nigeria, a former British colony, had traditionally been driving on the left with British imported right-hand-drive cars, but when it gained independence, it tried to throw off its colonial past as quick as possible and shifted to driving on the right.

After the Second World War, left-driving Sweden, the odd one out in mainland Europe, felt increasing pressure to change sides in order to conform with the rest of the continent. The problem was that all their neighbours already drove on the right side and since there are a lot of small roads without border guards leading into Norway and Finland, one had to remember in which country one was.

In 1955, the Swedish government held a referendum on the introduction of right-hand driving. Although no less than 82.9% voted “no” to the plebiscite, the Swedish parliament passed a law on the conversion to right-hand driving in 1963. Finally, the change took place on Sunday, the 3rd of September 1967, at 5 o’clock in the morning.

All traffic with private motor-driven vehicles was prohibited four hours before and one hour after the conversion, in order to be able to rearrange all traffic signs. Even the army was called in to help. Also a very low speed limit was applied, which was raised in a number of steps. The whole process took about a month. After Sweden's successful changeover, Iceland changed the following year, in 1968.

In the 1960s, Great Britain also considered changing, but the country’s conservative powers did everything they could to nip the proposal in the bud. Furthermore, the fact that it would cost billions of pounds to change everything round wasn’t much of an incentive… Eventually, Britain dropped the idea. Today, only four European countries still drive on the left: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.

I would have hated to be in Sweden when they changed over......I can't imagine the chaos that caused. *shudder*

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I didn't get through much more than half of that, but it really is fascinating stuff. I definitely enjoyed what I read.

 

[matriarch]

I know what you mean. I was reading it out to the wife, and we were having a laugh at some of the comments.

We have now moved on to the whole fork/knife thing while eating - American v. European ....and boy, hasn't that opened up a whole new discussion!!

I've stopped feeling embarrassed when eating out in the States. When I first went there, I was very conscious of being watched when eating the European way. Likewise for Min over here, she's just about used to eating in company other than me, eating her way. As long as you don't spill food, or shovel it in greedily, who cares?? But that said, there are reams and reams and reams of stuff on the internet and in books about the 'etiquette' of eating 'properly'. I personally just wanted to see Bushey-boy eating the European Way at a banquet at Windsor Castle with the Queen and assorted European heads of state.

Yes, I know. I'm mean.

 

[Recidiva]

I know what you mean. I was reading it out to the wife, and we were having a laugh at some of the comments.

We have now moved on to the whole fork/knife thing while eating - American v. European ....and boy, hasn't that opened up a whole new discussion!!

I've stopped feeling embarrassed when eating out in the States. When I first went there, I was very conscious of being watched when eating the European way. Likewise for Min over here, she's just about used to eating in company other than me, eating her way. As long as you don't spill food, or shovel it in greedily, who cares?? But that said, there are reams and reams and reams of stuff on the internet and in books about the 'etiquette' of eating 'properly'. I personally just wanted to see Bushey-boy eating the European Way at a banquet at Windsor Castle with the Queen and assorted European heads of state.

Yes, I know. I'm mean.

Oh, we know

 

[jomar]

I know what you mean. I was reading it out to the wife, and we were having a laugh at some of the comments.

We have now moved on to the whole fork/knife thing while eating - American v. European ....and boy, hasn't that opened up a whole new discussion!!

I've stopped feeling embarrassed when eating out in the States. When I first went there, I was very conscious of being watched when eating the European way.

Don't worry. I live in the US, eat European style and try to stay on the right side of the road.

 

[matriarch]

Don't worry. I live in the US, eat European style and try to stay on the right side of the road.

Well, I'll take dinner with you, but I'm sure as hell not getting in a car with you!!

Seriously though, it's very wierd, after being in the UK now for almost 2 years, when we go back to the States, and Min drives, she has to remind herself to drive on the right, and a couple of times almost forgot. I get away with it by not driving in the States.

*blink*

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Don't worry. I live in the US, eat European style and try to stay on the right side of the road.

I had a high school English teacher try to get all haughty over people who hold the fork in the left hand, cut off a piece and then stick it in their mouths without switching hands. We had just about all of him we could stand by that time of the year and the class rose up in rebellion. "If it's good enough for the queen of England, it's good enough for us . . . " I believe the slogan went. Now I don't know which is the British way and which is the European way but everyone in my family back as far as I know has kept the fork in the left hand and that includes my mother's family that came over from Wales in 1690.

And I like taking my half of the road down the center. After all, who's going to argue with a bear wearing a hat while driving a car.

 

[matriarch]

I had a high school English teacher try to get all haughty over people who hold the fork in the left hand, cut off a piece and then stick it in their mouths without switching hands. We had just about all of him we could stand by that time of the year and the class rose up in rebellion. "If it's good enough for the queen of England, it's good enough for us . . . " I believe the slogan went. Now I don't know which is the British way and which is the European way but everyone in my family back as far as I know has kept the fork in the left hand and that includes my mother's family that came over from Wales in 1690.

And I like taking my half of the road down the center. After all, who's going to argue with a bear wearing a hat while driving a car.

The British and Europen way is to keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right - ALL THE TIME, throughout the whole meal. Use the fork to hold the food down, use the knife to cut it, and without putting the knife down and changing hands, to use the fork, curved side up and tines pointing down, to spear the food and put it in your mouth.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The British and Europen way is to keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right - ALL THE TIME, throughout the whole meal. Use the fork to hold the food down, use the knife to cut it, and without putting the knife down and changing hands, to use the fork, curved side up and tines pointing down, to spear the food and put it in your mouth.

Why would anyone do it any differently? It is but logical, after all.

 

[jomar]

Well, I'll take dinner with you, but I'm sure as hell not getting in a car with you!!

Seriously though, it's very wierd, after being in the UK now for almost 2 years, when we go back to the States, and Min drives, she has to remind herself to drive on the right, and a couple of times almost forgot. I get away with it by not driving in the States.

*blink*

But I'm an above average driver, just like everybody else.

I do think it could get dicey to have to remember to stay in the 'wrong' lane.

And I like taking my half of the road down the center. After all, who's going to argue with a bear wearing a hat while driving a car.

The British and Europen way is to keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right - ALL THE TIME, throughout the whole meal. Use the fork to hold the food down, use the knife to cut it, and without putting the knife down and changing hands, to use the fork, curved side up and tines pointing down, to spear the food and put it in your mouth.

Yep. Part of the reason I adopted this, I think, is I'm left handed (for the most part).

 

[tickledkitty]

Yep. Part of the reason I adopted this, I think, is I'm left handed (for the most part).

Hey, you know all the best people in the world are lefties.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

I don't do the fork and knife thing. Of course, I pretty much never use a knife. I always use my right hand for the fork. I'm right handed after all.

 

[oggbashan]

Gibraltar

The Rock of Gibraltar was captured by the Royal Marines in 1704 when we Brits were supporting one of the claimants to the Spanish Throne.

We were given legal possession in the Treaty of Utrecht BUT if we give it up, it has to revert to Spain. The inhabitants don't like that idea. When there was a UN referendum on whether Gibraltar should return to Spanish sovereignity, 99% voted to stay British in a free, fair and secret ballot.

Gibraltar remains a British colony with limited self-government. Its status cannot change without Spain getting first refusal.

There is a legend that the British will leave Gibraltar when the apes leave. During the Second World War the ape population was dropping dramatically because of inter-pack fighting. Winston Churchill authorised the importation of more apes from North Africa to ensure that Gibraltar's apes remained viable.

"As solid as the Rock of Gibraltar"? The rock is limestone and has natural caves augmented by military excavations. At one time there were more miles of road INSIDE the Rock than outside. It is more like a Swiss cheese than a solid rock.

Wiki on Gibraltar

Og (former Rock resident)

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The Rock of Gibraltar was captured by the Royal Marines in 1704 when we Brits were supporting one of the claimants to the Spanish Throne.

We were given legal possession in the Treaty of Utrecht BUT if we give it up, it has to revert to Spain. The inhabitants don't like that idea. When there was a UN referendum on whether Gibraltar should return to Spanish sovereignity, 99% voted to stay British in a free, fair and secret ballot.

Gibraltar remains a British colony with limited self-government. Its status cannot change without Spain getting first refusal.

There is a legend that the British will leave Gibraltar when the apes leave. During the Second World War the ape population was dropping dramatically because of inter-pack fighting. Winston Churchill authorised the importation of more apes from North Africa to ensure that Gibraltar's apes remained viable.

"As solid as the Rock of Gibraltar"? The rock is limestone and has natural caves augmented by military excavations. At one time there were more miles of road INSIDE the Rock than outside. It is more like a Swiss cheese than a solid rock.

Wiki on Gibraltar

Og (former Rock resident)

The Spanish was the Rock back and find this UN referendum thing highly irritating. I mean, how dare the inhabitants tell a sovereign state what it gets to do? Same thing vis a vis the Falklands. Once you've been ruled by the Brits, I guess, the idea of a Spanish language government gives you cold chills.

 

[jomar]

Hey, you know all the best people in the world are lefties.

You too? awesome!

 

[TheeGoatPig]

The British and Europen way is to keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right - ALL THE TIME, throughout the whole meal. Use the fork to hold the food down, use the knife to cut it, and without putting the knife down and changing hands, to use the fork, curved side up and tines pointing down, to spear the food and put it in your mouth.

Someone from Poland told me about how they eat in Europe about a year ago. I have been eating that way ever since, if a knife is needed. If I just need a fork I use my right hand.

 

[TE999]

The British and Europen way is to keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right - ALL THE TIME, throughout the whole meal. Use the fork to hold the food down, use the knife to cut it, and without putting the knife down and changing hands, to use the fork, curved side up and tines pointing down, to spear the food and put it in your mouth.

I first saw that style of using silverware watching Britcoms, mysteries and Sci-Fi programs on PBS. It seemed sensible in the face of it so I tried it. Now it's how I eat except when a knife isn't needed and I use my right hand.

My feeling is if you don't drink from the soup bowl, throw bones on the floor and eat mashed potatoes with your hands, manners are pretty well satisfied.

 

[impressive]

Hey, you know all the best people in the world are lefties.

I'm rather partial to the ambidextrous -- but I'm greedy that way.

 

[jomar]

I'm rather partial to the ambidextrous -- but I'm greedy that way.

How about the mixed dominants?

I throw right handed, write left handed, kick left footed, bat right handed, and have to take a moment at a ping pong table before recalling which hand I'm better with.

 

[cloudy]

A lot of the food dishes that we southerners are so fond of originated during the civil war when food began to get scarce.

Chicken and dumplings was a way to make one chicken stretch to feed more people. Black-eyed peas were only grown for cow fodder before the war, but became a southern staple during/after. Cornbread was a way to make a meal go further, as well.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

A thread for little gems of miscellaneous information......'eureka' moments, when you finally discover why something is the way it is.......

My first little gem comes about as a result of an on-road conversation with the wife during a drive around the countryside yesterday.........


Why do americans drive on right and Britons on left?

In the UK, we drive on the left because the Romans did.

As for Europe, they tend to drive on the same side as Americans because when Napoleon conquered the continent he enforced French law, which had people driving on the right.

All the countries that opposed Napoleon stuck to driving on the left.

Well I never !!

The Romans drove on the left? What kind of cars did they have back then?

 

[R. Richard]

The Romans drove on the left? What kind of cars did they have back then?

Actually, the most favored model was a two horse powered roadster styled vehicle. The vehicle had a certain self-guidance feature, but the owner had to put up with a lot of horseshit.