"drunk riding"

[William Salmon]

> >Well, I remember specifically that when my buddies and I were teenagers in
> >the 60's, one of our number insisted on saying "I drove over here" when he
> >had come on his motorbike. We razzed and ridiculed him mercilessly, telling
> >him in no uncertain terms that, "no, you did not drive over here, you RODE
> >over here." One drove a car and rode a motocycle/bike. Even now, if I try
> >out the phrase "I'm gonna drive my motorcycle" it just sounds too weird -
> >you don't drive a bike, you ride a bike, whether motorized or not - and I
> >would bet it sounds too weird to most, if not virtually all, bikers nowadays
> >as well. Thus, cop giving drunken biker a drunken riding ticket makes
> >perfect sense to me. (BTW, I believe that in many places now you can get one
> >of these for being drunk on a horse, too. Bicycle too? Dunno, but would not
> >surprise me.)
> >DAD
>
> What about driving cattle drunk?  And on the other hand, is there
> drunk piloting (for those at the wobbly helm of a motorboat)?

"drunk mowing" gets about 1000 Google hits for operating a riding lawn mower while intoxicated.  And then of course there's George Jones's "Honkey Tonk Song"

I saw those blue lights flashin'
Over my left shoulder
He walked right up and said,
"Get off that riding mower."
I said sir, "Let me explain
Before you put me in the tank."
She took my keys away
And now she won't drive me to drink.







> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> >Wilson Gray
> >Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 4:28 PM
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: "drunk riding"
> >
> >
> >
> >I share your confusion! A drunk riding alone on a motorcycle isn't
> >just *riding* drunk. He's also *driving* drunk on a motorcycle, (it)
> >seem like to me, (as we say in ETX BE; sometimes, it annoys me that I
> >have not the least idea of what the local white dialect is/was like,
> >thanks to the *rigid*, Deep-South-style segregation practiced in
> >Marshall in my day; sadly, according to the blog, _I'm from Marshall,
> >Texas_, written by a white woman, things really haven't changed much,
> >since she makes a point of calling Marshall "racist") just as a drunk
> >riding alone in a car is driving it. Why bleep with the language over
> >this triviality?
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 8:30 PM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >wrote:
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>  Subject:      "drunk riding"
> >>
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---
> >>
> >>  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"
> >>
> >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >-Wilson
> >---
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> >to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >-Mark Twain
> >
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> >
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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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