https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2016/02/rural-drivers-hi-sign-great-how-do-you-respond-if-youre-foot
This is or was very common in the rural South a generation ago. It's not "meh" at all; it's a genuinely friendly greeting, but with dignified aloofness; no overeagerness; like tipping your hat to a woman in 1930 -- sincere, but you are not being forward. It certainly means that you are considered part of the normal or legitimate landscape; you are accepted; you are one of our kind; you are not an uitlander. However, if transferred to the roadie environment, its meaning can vary from greeting friendly but generic, to subtle putdown; rather as if, riding your knobby tired mountain bike and pulling a trailer, you pass a rider obviously working hard on his Merckx and lift that Oh! so casual finger! in greeting, meaning both "Hi!" as well as "I just passed you, you loser!" Way back in 1978 my father retired to Carrolton, GA, NW corner, tail end of Appalachia; small college town. I recall driving around the very rural parts of the county as a last-gap fill-in for the 1980 census; slant-eyed outsider knocking on your door asking personal questions for the Federales. My brother, about the same time -- he was a regional class middle distance runner in So Cal and trained with the Greats -- trained out and around the rural roads wearing currently fashionable running gear, short shorts in bright colors, neon tights. Neither of us got anything except friendly fingertip waves like that described. On Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 7:54 PM, Deacon Patrick <[email protected]> wrote: > For some years now I’ve been riding the back roads to the backer roads and > trails and early on I became very intentional in waving and smiling to > every car/driver that passes me in either direction whenever it is safe for > me to do so. I did this for the selfish reason that it is going to help > drivers see me both now and thus be more likely to see me and others in the > future. > > For the first year I got “meh” equivalents in wet-noodle index finger > waves if I got anything at all. > > Year two, I began to get an occasional enthusiastic wave. I even saw > another person or two on a bicycle. In regular clothing, not the spandex > racing crowd just passing through. > > Year three, nearly every driver waves enthusiastically, sometimes even > initiating it, sometimes out the rolled down window, or the peace sign, or > thumbs up. I have met five or six people in street clothes riding their > bike, some now running errands, on the trail and roads that I used to have > all to my own. > > It’s all corollary, I know, yet strongly so. Prior to this we’d never seen > cyclists in street clothes, kids out riding. Is this the gift of a whacky > guy on a bicycle with bags, sometimes full, smiling and waving wearing > normal(ish) clothes? Either way, it is wonderful to see. > > With abandon, > Patrick > > www.CredoFamily.org > www.MindYourHeadCoop.org > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- *30% Supply and Demand discount, listmembers only, on all resume, LinkedIn, and writing services, until Demand equals Supply! And there's more! 10% kickback for any referral resulting in fully paid, list-price contract. And still more! I am offering services in trade for a road bike, or frame and parts, that are period compatible with my AM hub, circa 1937 to 1961. See my website for what I do and what I charge; email for details.* Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
