Inside, Outside, Near Lane, Far Lane, whatever...

[Annemehr]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn@> wrote:
> >
> > Ok, admittedly this is an extremely minor point, but I find
> > the whole discussion of 'inside lane' and 'outside lane' very
> > confusing. So confusing that after reading the posts, I still
> > don't know whether the UK and the US are the same or different.
> > 
> > Relative to 'inside lane', it doesn't matter whether you drive
> > on the left or the right, the Inside lane is at the center of
> > the roadway (roadway meaning combined lanes in both directions
> > whether divided or not), and conversely the 'outside lane' is 
> > at the outer edge of the roadway. 
> 
> Geoff:
> <takes deep breath>
> 
> Right.
> 
> In the UK, we drive on the left and the inside lane is the lane 
> on the /left/ - in other words, nearest the pavement or the 
> hedge or the hard shoulder or the garden wall or whatever 
> borders the road. This is also sometimes referred to as the 
> slow lane in conversation.
> 
> If the road is a dual carriageway and has a minimum of two 
> lanes each side divided by a central reservation, then the right 
> hand lane //in the UK// is the outside lane. If there are three 
> lanes each way, the middle lane on each carriageway is the 
> centre lane or middle lane. These lanes are sometimes familiarly 
> called the fast lanes.
> 
> Slower drivers are exhorted to use the inside lanes leaving the 
> middle and outside lane(s) for faster overtaking traffic.
>

Annemehr:

Right.  So, your inside lanes are on the outside.

And you think WE can't speak English! ;)

Actually, I suppose the terminology might come from racetracks - 
regardless of whether it's horseracing, auto racing, or track, 
everybody tends to run in the inside lane (toward the center of the 
oval), and therefore passing tends to occur on the outside lanes.  
Thus, perhaps, passing lane = "outside lane" and there you go.

N'est-ce pas?