Message text written by "David Brister"
>Long ago it was the custom for people on horseback who were armed with
swords, sabres or the like to pass another gent simililarly armed on the
left so that their weapons were handy for a right handed fight. Or
perhaps if no hostile intent was evident the right (weapon) hand might
be extended for a handshake. This resulted in the terminology of near
side i.e left side of the road going forwards, and off side. That is how
we in UK designate for example the legs of a horse, front offside, rear
nearside ect. It was but a small step to delineate the wheels of a wagon
and subsequently as they were invented the wheels of a car.
I don't know how this works for horse owners in Europe or the colonies
where they drive on the wrong side of the road. Perhaps the original
Pilgrims were all left handed.
<
I just asked the horse owner in my household and she said that the near
side is the left side of the horse. It is the side from which you mount
and dismount. It is the also the same side you always handle a horse.
This is an old custom but horses LOVE routine and changing things around
upsets them. She went on to say that when driving carriages the driver
sits on the right and the passenger sits on the left. Even here in the
colonies.
This probably explains why you lot drive on the left side of the road.
This allows the passenger to ingress/egress a carriage from the walkway or
kerb as opposed to mucking out into the muddy street.
As to why we Yanks drive on the wrong side - well why can't we spell colour
right? Or nieghbour? Or centre. And why can't we pronounce schedule (er,
that's shedule)? Perhaps we do it different just to be different. But you
can't lay all the blame at our feet as most of the rest of the world also
drives on the right. All of Europe save the British Isles, all of the
western hemisphere save a few small islands in the Carribean.
So the near side is the left side which is nearest the curb, er kerb,
pardon me, in England where the term originated.
Cheers
Dave
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