birkdale10
Well-known member
I hope to open a can of worms here. Beware.
I've been riding for a lot of years - 40 or so. One of the things I learned that motorcyclists do is ... wave at other motorcyclists. I have been doing it for years. I see another person on a bike and I 1) raise my hand (left one) off the handlebar and 2) give a wave.
Not too complicated. Important point in that previous sentence. 'Raise my hand'. I take my hand off the grip and lift it higher. Sometimes just a few inches, sometimes about shoulder level. And then I wave. Give a peace sign. Open hand, all fingers. I've given a boy scout salute.
For years, usually I would do my wave to a passing rider, and I'd get a wave back. Similar sort of wave. However, for the past few years, something has been changing. The wave I am getting back is ... different. Often, the other rider will remove their hand from the handlebar and lower it. Sometimes just the hand. Sometimes, more often than not, a finger or two will point at the ground.
What is this supposed to mean?
I am in a bad mood, I guess. Here are the two answers to that I have for that question.
First, they are pointing at the ground because they see another rider and they are suggesting that that point on the ground they are pointing to is where they would like me to crash, skid, fall down, have an accident.
Second, the gesture is pointing towards an underground Hades-sort of dimension: i.e.: "go to hell".
Can someone give me a better, less aggressive reason why it is so hard for other riders to raise their hands and wave back?
I've been riding for a lot of years - 40 or so. One of the things I learned that motorcyclists do is ... wave at other motorcyclists. I have been doing it for years. I see another person on a bike and I 1) raise my hand (left one) off the handlebar and 2) give a wave.
Not too complicated. Important point in that previous sentence. 'Raise my hand'. I take my hand off the grip and lift it higher. Sometimes just a few inches, sometimes about shoulder level. And then I wave. Give a peace sign. Open hand, all fingers. I've given a boy scout salute.
For years, usually I would do my wave to a passing rider, and I'd get a wave back. Similar sort of wave. However, for the past few years, something has been changing. The wave I am getting back is ... different. Often, the other rider will remove their hand from the handlebar and lower it. Sometimes just the hand. Sometimes, more often than not, a finger or two will point at the ground.
What is this supposed to mean?
I am in a bad mood, I guess. Here are the two answers to that I have for that question.
First, they are pointing at the ground because they see another rider and they are suggesting that that point on the ground they are pointing to is where they would like me to crash, skid, fall down, have an accident.
Second, the gesture is pointing towards an underground Hades-sort of dimension: i.e.: "go to hell".
Can someone give me a better, less aggressive reason why it is so hard for other riders to raise their hands and wave back?
