Near side is indeed the side nearest the kerb (English term for the edge of
the pavement (sidewalk) ) - clear enough :-)
John
At 07:53 AM 8/18/94 EDT, Will Zehring wrote:
>Fellow fiends and jag-o-philes:
>
>I'm reading the Brooklands Gold Portfolio on MG cars from '29 to '30 (wow,
>is that arcane or what?) and I'm noticing again terms I've seen before in
>such reprints (btw: I think these collections of reprints are really
>interesting: imagine reports where the writter is more than satisfied with
>acceleration rates of 0-60 MPH in 75 seconds! D**n, those cars were fast!).
>
>But I digress.
>
>The terms in question are "near side" and "off side," meaning as best as I
>can fathom the left and right hand side of the car, from an occupant's
>perspective. All is fine, except I would guess that the "near" side ought
>to be the driver's side (i.e. the side closest to the driver, which it
>ain't) and the "off" side ought to be the passenger side (the side away from
>the driver, which it ain't, either). Can anyone who speaks non-American
>English as a native explain? The only way I can see this making sense is
>from the perspective of a stander-by, on the curb of the road. In that
>case, the near side is closest to the person and the off side is towards the
>center of the road. Something tells me I'm getting a bit too clever with
>this explanation, tho.
>
>Will "Separated by a common language" Zehring
>
>
>
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