What do you SHOUT?

[delthebike]

Shouting "oil up/down" when motors hove into view was, I thought, a peculiarly SEG/Essex thing. Having ridden with many people and groups from across Great Blighty it seems to me that most shout "car up/down". But this video suggests that "oil" is and was the thing to shout!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWP7R-1Vi0&feature=youtube_gdata

What do you shout?

[Kim]

'Car' because that's what groups I've ever ridden with have used (though there's been some inconsistency about the specifics of up/down back/front charmed/strange).  Sometimes, where relevant, I'll deviate to 'motorbike' or 'tractor', but things with car-like overtaking properties all get called car.  I'll also warn of horses if I'm at the front of a group.

Wowbagger will be along in a minute to explain how oil is so 20th century...

[jsabine]

It's always seemed to me that 'oil' is a very traditional thing to shout - makes me think of hard roadmen, probably in flat caps and open-neck shirts, and in a lot of ways is similar to the contempt the Swallows and Amazons had for steam rather than sail.

For me, it's 'car' before the pass, with an optional 'wanker' afterwards depending on its closeness.

[Dibdib]

Voted for "Car up", as that's the only variant I've heard used (plus "down", ofc.)

but to be honest I just wish people wouldn't shout it so much. It really only needs yelling when the group needs to actually do something, IMO. On a sufficiently wide/clear road that the overtaking car can pass the group without needing riders to go single file or slow down, it's just noise pollution.

[Andrew Br]

I do pretty much what Kim does; car up/down unless it's something that's going to behave differently eg truck/bus/tractor/bike.
I'm particularly keen to make people aware if there's another bike overtaking us since some of the groups that I ride with aren't particularly observant plus they tend to swerve around a bit.
On the few occasions that I've ridden with Manchester Wheelers they shout "car back" and "car up" for rear and front approaching vehicles.
My calls caused a bit of confusion until I learned their convention.

[clarion]

'Car' if it's a car; 'Oil' if it's bigger.

[Basil]

but to be honest I just wish people wouldn't shout it so much. It really only needs yelling when the group needs to actually do something, IMO. On a sufficiently wide/clear road that the overtaking car can pass the group without needing riders to go single file or slow down, it's just noise pollution.

This.

I once rode with a small group along a double laned urban A road in the Midlands.  One of the group took it apon themselves to shout Car Up every 10 seconds.
 

No.  Really? 

[Kim]

I once rode with a small group along a double laned urban A road in the Midlands.  One of the group took it apon themselves to shout Car Up every 10 seconds.
 

No.  Really? 

I think I was on that ride...

[T42]

I like the American "car back", but it's not much use in France. I usually holler "voiture" and let others work out if it's in front or behind. They have ears, too.

The official (my god) FFCT yodel is typically verbose. It isn't aimed at telling you what the hazard is but rather telling you what to do: "à droite devant" meaning "move to the right, everyone, there's a vehicle up front".  Likewise derrière. I never use it and apart from officious twits I've never heard anyone else using it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Car, although the first club I rode with - Stonehouse Wheelers, (that's in Gloucestershire, definitely not Essex) way back in the 80s, all used "oil". Nowadays I never hear that, but don't know if it's a regional thing or an age thing. I tend to call both directions "up" out of reflex, particularly as "up" makes me think "up ahead" or "coming up" or "up in front", although it has been explained to me as "up your arse and down your throat". Front and back make more immediate, unambiguous sense, though someone did once claim that "car (in) front" doesn't make it clear whether they car is approaching (move left) or stationary (move right). But neither does "down", really. What's more, when people call "bike down" or "runner down" it sounds rather unfortunate.

Shouting "oil up/down" when motors hove into view was, I thought, a peculiarly SEG/Essex thing.

What's SEG?

[Cudzoziemiec]

The official (my god) FFCT yodel is typically verbose. It isn't aimed at telling you what the hazard is but rather telling you what to do: "à droite devant" meaning "move to the right, everyone, there's a vehicle up front".  Likewise derrière. I never use it and apart from officious twits I've never heard anyone else using it.

My French isn't idiomatic enough to know if this avoids the ambiguity of "on your right" - ie, unless you're familiar with the phrase, when you hear it from behind you don't really know if it means "I'm about to pass you on your right" or "Please move right so I can pass you".

but to be honest I just wish people wouldn't shout it so much. It really only needs yelling when the group needs to actually do something, IMO. On a sufficiently wide/clear road that the overtaking car can pass the group without needing riders to go single file or slow down, it's just noise pollution.

Definitely. It only needs to be yelled if it's advisable to take avoiding (or other) action.

On a noisy road the word oil doesn't have any hard consonants so the word car has a distinct advantage in that it stands a better chance of being heard.

"Oil up" can also sound a bit like "all up" to say that the whole group has passed a junction. (Do other people use this? I presume it's fairly widespread.)

[T42]

The official (my god) FFCT yodel is typically verbose. It isn't aimed at telling you what the hazard is but rather telling you what to do: "à droite devant" meaning "move to the right, everyone, there's a vehicle up front".  Likewise derrière. I never use it and apart from officious twits I've never heard anyone else using it.

My French isn't idiomatic enough to know if this avoids the ambiguity of "on your right" - ie, unless you're familiar with the phrase, when you hear it from behind you don't really know if it means "I'm about to pass you on your right" or "Please move right so I can pass you".

Everyone who hears "à droite devant" for the first time needs an explanation, even the French.  I think it was invented by a committee.

An alternative is "serrez à droite" meaning "move to the right and stay there".  Might not be well received.

[Basil]

I think I was on that ride...

You were.


No.  It wasn't Kim doing the shouting.

[David Martin]

Car on (your head), Car up (your bum). is the local vernacular. Along with 'side' and 'middle'

[eck]

On the (very) few audaxes in the west of Scotland, the locals seem to call "nose" and "tail".
Clear and unambiguous. 

[Jurek]

I thought this thread was going to be about what you shout when you have been denied all other options and what you see before you is :
[Agent Smith mode]
Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson?
That is the sound of inevitability.
The inevitability of death.
Your death.
Mr. Anderson
[/Agent Smith mode]
Or something....

In my case it was a ped, running directly towards me from between parked cars on a poorly lit street while I was giving it beans.
What I said at the time probably sounded likes AAAAArrrggghhhwwwwhhhhooooaaaaaoooowwweeeeeee!
The ped looked alarmed.
Collision avoided.
Job done.

This sort of event might warrant a thread of it's own......

[Deano]

I thought the same, Jurek.

I shout "Oi!"

Or, "Oooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

[sg37409]

On the (very) few audaxes in the west of Scotland, the locals seem to call "nose" and "tail".
Clear and unambiguous. 

Yeah, Nose and Tail.
Had a small peleton of kids & nephew the other week going out the railway path: Nephew's a non-cyclist and he knew what it mean without explanation.

I was used to thinking Car Up meant a car up ahead, coming towards you from my times in england, then when I started going out with a glasgow club it seems to mean the opposite: Car behind, coming up to pass us. Could well be my mistake.

Eck, you must have a good memory

[phantasmagoriana]

I didn't realise nose/tail was a west of Scotland thing, but I'd certainly never heard it before coming up here.

Never heard oil up/down, either. I'd just assume it meant a patch of oil on the road!

[Kim]

Up/down is simple if you consider that it refers to the gradient of the road.  Since you're cycling, this is nearly always in the same direction, and when it's the wrong way you tend to be keeping up with traffic and have less need to shout about it.   

And yes, the first time I encountered "Oil!" I assumed it meant a spill.

[Feline]

The local CTC groups have this year changed from using 'car up/down' to 'car front/behind'.

Apparently some people got confused about which way was up. When asked I always explained that it was either up your behind or down your throat, which tended to stick in most riders minds to the extent they didn't need/want to ask again

[Thing2]

On moving to California, I found local convention rather confusing due to the use of 'car up' for a vehicle coming towards you instead of 'car down'. A vehicle behind you is 'car back' instead of 'car up'. I still occasionally get it wrong... I refuse to use the silly habit of sticking your left arm up to signal right though!
In the UK I would generally use 'car up/down', although would use 'oil up/down' on local tandem club rides where that was the convention.

[eck]

On the (very) few audaxes in the west of Scotland, the locals seem to call "nose" and "tail".
Clear and unambiguous. 

Yeah, Nose and Tail
<snipped>
Eck, you must have a good memory

Aye, I don't get out so much these days. Mrs eck fears for my safety if I venture further west than Bo'ness.

[Polar Bear]

I voted 'other' because I generally just shout 'car'.   I mostly ride on the back of the group.   I have tried 'car up' / 'car down' but always find myself shouting 'car up' regardless.   

'Car' seems to be the generic term for vehicle of any kind in these parts.

It may just be me but I find 'car up' / 'car down' counter-intuitive. 

[mattc]

but to be honest I just wish people wouldn't shout it so much. It really only needs yelling when the group needs to actually do something, IMO. On a sufficiently wide/clear road that the overtaking car can pass the group without needing riders to go single file or slow down, it's just noise pollution.

Yup.

Plus with novice group/road riders they tend to leap into single-file whenever they hear "car back" (or car up) - I don't what to resurrect the single-file debate, I'm just reinforcing Dibdib's point!