On Tue, 3 Oct 1995, W. Ray Gibbons wrote:
> To be serious for a minute, I think offside and nearside became synonymous
> with right and left before cars were invented, so nearside is left and
> offside right regardless of which side the steering wheel is on.
>
> (Serious mode off)
That was mercifully short. Now on to the _real_ Ray Gibbons...
> Besides, if it were not so, british parts books would
> become impossibly complicated. All sided parts would have to come in RHD
> and LHD versions. Instead of just O/S and N/S front fenders, you would
> have O/S RHD and O/S LHD, as well as N/S RHD and N/S LHD. If they had
> done things THAT way, the british auto industry would have gone into
> a steep decline.
And as we all know, thanks to the superb control of the parts situation
afforded by the early adoption of the industry-standard "nearly offsided
and awfully nearsighted" inventory control scheme, the British automotive
industry continues to dominate the market.
> As far as why the brits drive on the left side of the road, well it is
> simple. Has nothing to do with swords and shields. Just ask youself
> this: you are riding your horse on the M4 when he pulls up lame. You
> pull off the road, and dismount from the horse on the nearside (left). If
> traffic drove on the right, you would be getting off in the path of
> traffic. That's why we cannot allow horses on our interstates--we drive
> on the wrong side.
So that's why the cop gave me a ticket the other day for riding my horse
down the fast lane of I-695. He was screaming and yelling so much
that I didn't understand half of what he said. I thought it was because
the horse dumped on the hood of the car behind me. Served him right for
tailgating, even if it was the cop's car...
> Does that clear everything up?
Definitely, Ray, definitely...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Old 1948 M.G. TC TC6710 NEMGTR #2271
Cub Hill, Maryland 1962 Triumph TR4 CT3154LO (daily driver)
fold@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
If cars had evolved as fast as computers have, by now they'd cost a
quarter, run for a year on a half-gallon of gas, and explode once a day.
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