thirdcrank wrote:JohnW
I can see it's a fact, but that's not the point I was trying to make. It seems to me that the fact of their being on foot is incidental here; relevant to accuracy but not a big deal. I suppose in a narrative like this it's what you'd assume because walking is the default way of getting around. I'm cautious about creating another non-existent group to stereotype. They'd almost certainly have behaved in the same way no matter how they had been getting about.
Reading your immediately preceding post, you've had an incident with nuisances / delinquents who incidentally were on bikes. Mentioning is part of the narrative, not something you stressed. They certainly weren't part of a group called cyclists.
Nor am I saying this is never relevant: if we were talking about something like road safety, then all the different modes would be central to the discussion. Neither pedestrians nor cyclists are the problem.
I know what you mean tc, but how would you refer to the kid? I'd refer to him, rightly or wrongly, as a scroat - but he was a pedestrian until the incident happened and then he became a pedestrian scroat. Those who pay lip-service to political correctness would object to the word 'scroat'. I'm not claiming to be right in this - not at all - but in my ignorance I can't think of anything else. I suppose that, in the light of my objections to some riders being described as 'cyclists', and preferring to refer to them as 'idiots on bikes', 'scroats on bikes', 'motorists on bikes', I understand your viewpoint..........................but everyone on foot is a pedestrian. I suppose that the word 'ped' is disrespectful, in that it stereotypes people.
The car driver who clips one of us, or who turns right as soon as he's passed us, or who ignores traffic lights etc etc etc is a 'motorist' - but the chap at the front of on-coming traffic who stops and waves us to turn across him when we're turning right - is he a 'motorist'? - he (or she) is a different kind of person altogether. The use of words and stereotypes is fraught with difficulties
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