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

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Annemehr" <annemehr at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
> <gbannister10@> 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! ;)

Geoff:
No, our inside lanes are on the inside. It's your lanes 
which are inside out. And everyone knows that we native 
Brits speak the best English. Die Gedanken sind frei.
:-)

Annemehr:
> 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?

Geoff:
Yes, that sounds possible. It would be interesting to find the etymology 
of that usage.