"drunk riding"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I had to see a current public service ad warning against "drunk riding"
three or four times before I oculd figure it out.  First I thought it meant
that it was now unlawful even to ride as a vehicle's passenger if you were
drunk.

Stranger laws have been passed.

But on my latest viewing I realized that the cop in the ad is busting a
drunk who's riding a motorcycle.

Get it? Get it?  "Riding" a motorcycle!

What does it mean?  That law enforcement now believes (or, worse, knows)
that there are people who think "riding drunk" (on a motorcycle)  is OK
because they distinguish "driving" from that kind of "riding"?  (The biker
in the ad isn't carrying a passenger, just a helmet full of beer.)

What's the answer? Is this a SOTA?

JL

--
"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
Platypus"

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org