[Ads-l] the Dutch Reach

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 19 20:18:35 UTC 2020


On Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 12:42 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> I first heard about this in an article about bicycle deaths in NYC
>
> https://www.gothamgazette.com/city/9111-spike-in-cyclist-deaths-call-to-the-mayor-dutch-reach-new-york
>
> Here is the earliest mention I could find:
>
> https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-27/easy-maneuver-borrowed-dutch-could-be-life-saving-cyclists


Slightly earlier, also giving Michael Charney credit for the neologism:

----
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/09/08/this-cyclist-wants-drivers-dutch-reach/V2Ei5bEiOCfU6ubxX1r8VN/story.html
To avoid 'doorings,' cyclist wants drivers to do the 'Dutch Reach'
Boston Globe, Sep. 8 2016
Michael Charney wants you to do the Dutch Reach.
The 70-year-old retired doctor, who lives in Cambridge, is spearheading a
grassroots public information campaign to encourage drivers exiting their
vehicles to use their right hands to open their car doors.
...
The bike enthusiast, who ditched his car in 1992, has been referring to the
action of turning your body to grab a car door handle as the "Dutch Reach,"
based on information he gathered from a blog and New York Times article
from 2011 highlighting an action commonly employed for decades in
bicycle-friendly countries like the Netherlands.
----

The Globe links to this blog post about the Dutch practice:
http://nudges.org/2011/08/17/how-the-dutch-watch-out-for-cyclists/
...in turn linking to:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/the-dutch-way-bicycles-and-fresh-bread.html

--bgz

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list