Quick fix

We were at Easter dinner with a couple of our teenaged nephews the other day.  Their mother announced that H., the older one, had just gotten his driver's license. 

Our daughter asked him about parallel parking, the bugaboo of all teens and the reason she failed her first driver's test.  H. looked blank, and his mother said, "It isn't called parallel parking anymore; it's offset backing." 

"Why?" I said, amidst comments that it sounded like we were talking about wall-panelling or flooring.

"Because 'parallel parking' made kids nervous," she answered.

Wow!  You don't even know where to start on that one.  But it makes me wonder about euphemism as a possible classroom tool. "Build word structures," rather than "Write an essay"?  Or "Document dictive cues" instead of "Write a paper"?

I wonder how many years "offset backing" will last before it becomes too scary?   

Comments

[Cowtown Pattie]

Interesting. Yes, the ole parallel parking fear got a lot of us. But, it was a badge of honor, worn as proudly as any Purple Heart ( not at all meant to demeanor our Vets) to finally have that rite of passage - the Driver's License.

Scary thing has evolved here in Texas, I suppose to save money. Kids no longer have to take an actual driving test with a DPS office unless their parents insist ( and pay extra for). Now, young drivers only have to complete Driver's Ed, or a parent-taught program and the written test. No wonder our insurance rates are through the roof.

[Maggie Wallace]

Fortunately parallel parking wasn't part of the driving test over here in UK when I took it. :-) I still can't do it, and even hubby who has been driving for 40+ years now struggles with it on occasions. Younger daughter is just taking driving lessons again after a break of around 4/5 years, I hope that she manages parking better than I can - I just have to drive around till I find a space I can just drive forward into!

[Maggie Wallace]

Ooops, forgot to say what I really wanted to, which is this entry gave me my morning smile. :-) Now I can go make coffee! ;-)

[Sherry]

Is parallel parking where you reverse into a spot behind another car, or between two of them? If so, it's called a reverse park in the UK now. It was the manouevre I hated the most and made me the most nervous. In fact on my second test (the one I passed) I was so nervous while doing it that when I had the car approximately in position, I put on the handbrake and told the examiner that I needed a moment because my clutch leg was shaking!

[Ronni]

Well, let's not scare the teenagers; they might think that knowing how to parallel park is actually important.

Nearly every day, I live with endless honking horns on my narrow, neighborhood street because too many people don't know the basics of parallel parking and the traffic backs up behind them for blocks while they try to maneuver their car into a slot as if for the first time ever.