summer
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who's left?
so in the United States, we drive on the right side of the road. in Australia
they drive on the left side of the road. both places started as British
colonies, so they shouldn’t drive any differently. but yet, they do.
“why is that,” you might say?
“ok, i'll tell you,” i might reply.
in the middle ages, when people travelled armed, they rode on the left side of
the road, such that their predominantly right hands would be able to aim
their lances and swords at the oncoming traffic of unknown friendliness. keeping
the right hand towards the center of the road was critical in surviving hostile
encounters with mutually armed travellers. thus, using the left side of the road
became a survival trait.
when the Americas were colonized by Europeans, most scofflaws used firearms,
so keeping a lance levelled at the oncoming traffic was not a factor in
safe travel along American roads. of more interest was the manner of driving your
team of horses to market. besides, America was foundes by of captalists, not
criminals. um. er. anyway ... with a predominantly right-handed culture,
teamsters sat on the left side of their horse-drawn wagons in order to keep
the whip centered on their animals. if the driver wanted to stay centered on
the road in order to see the furthest, that put the market-driven wagon on the
right side of the road. using the right side of the road became a survival trait
amongs the rebellious American capitalists.
Australian started out as a prison colony, and the settlers therefore weren’t
travelling to market as often as their keepers. the British custom prevailed
through the dominant jail keepers.
this story comes directly from my Australian coworker. now who can tell me why Australians
talk funny?
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