Born and raised mostly in the outer reaches of the NYC area, currently living in the southeast. Never heard of the term “granny parking” until reading this thread.
Backing in to a spot is to me nearly as much a PIA as trying to back out. Pulling forward through two unoccupied spaces so that one can pull out forward is one of life’s minor pleasures akin to finding money in an old pocket. It’s safer, and convenient as fuck as well.
Never heard of granny parking. I guessed pulling through.
This what my friends and I called it in high school. (The pull through version.)
I only recently started backing into spaces, but I now do it whenever it’s not inconvenient. I think of that as quick getaway parking as well.
In my new car they tilt down automatically when I put the car in reverse. I thought I might be annoyed by it, but nope, just handy.
It’s not about it being less trouble. It’s safer due to the sight lines involved.
Technically true. Though I’m very less likely to encounter vehicular and pedestrian traffic backing in to a spot, it’s still a PIA for me with a low-slung coupe, even with a back up camera.
I’ve found something out out over the years: Easier beats harder every time.
Curbscrapers? Probably just fell out of fashion. I remember buying a large family sedan (in my 20’s) and all of my coworkers joked that I’d entered old age - and I’d soon add mudflaps, curb scrapers… (The change from whitewall tires also meant that there was less need to protect the tires from scrapes.)
Back on topic: I had never heard of the term “granny parking” and if forced to define it would also assume that it meant parking (parallel, angles, or straight) with many back and forth movements.
I believe the episode of “My Three Sons - You’re Driving Me Crazy” (1967) - Chip was learning how to drive and drove “like his pants were on fire”. When Fred MacMurray asked him to drive more carefully Chip referred to that style of driving with an ageist comment.
Granny Parkin? Never heard the term. My guess was it meant to stop at the front of a store briefly to let an elderly person out.
I sometimes back in. Depends on the situation. But really, the only parking lot I regularly use is the grocery store, so I prefer to have my tailgate more easily accessible so I just pull in.
Also SE Michigan, also granny aged, also never heard term. OP’s spouse is “confidently incorrect” in saying “everyone knows”.
What I would like to know is why so many places (such as my HOA) discourage or outlaw it. Once, when I parked nose-out (to make my trunk laden with heavy objects more accessible to my front door) I was informed by several angry neighbors that I MUST park nose-in according to HOA regulations.
Nose-in parking makes no sense at all. When I back out of my spot in the morning, I can’t see shit in either direction (both of my parking neighbors are SUVs) until I’m halfway into the roadway, more than enough for a fast-moving car to sideswipe me.
I don’t get why “granny parking” isn’t mandatory.
I’ve never heard anybody say that, but then I don’t use English in daily life.
This old thread shows that some people hate it when someone else backs into a parking spot, so presumably one of those people came up with the derogatory “granny” term.
In states like Pennsylvania where cars only have license plates on the rear, if the police go through a lot scanning plates it can be an issue.
I’ve seen municipal lots and Park-and-Ride lots with signage saying front-in parking only.
This style of parking is called “alley docking” here and is a standard part of the South African driver’s test. Is it not tested for in US driver’s tests?
I never knew it to have an “official” name, but I do both variations all the time as I drive a van and a pickup. I’d rather not back out into the lane of travel in the parking lot or the street from my driveway.
It comes naturally for me from driving dump trucks and concrete mixers years ago.
I checked my state road test requirements, and license applicants are assessed for their ability to back up slowly and carefully for 50 feet while looking over their right shoulder, and for parallel parking ability.
The latter requirement surprised me a bit. One could live outside of cities and never have occasion to parallel park.* And if you did visit the big city, one could make a point of seeking out a parking garage.
*I last parallel parked a couple years ago, on vacation. I’ve still got the moves. 
AIUI, the parking parts in driving tests aren’t just for the actual ability to park a car, but for confidence and skill in maneuvering.
Does the state test guide have hill starts, 3-point turns and emergency braking?
Just to add, I am from SE Michigan and have never heard the term “granny parking” in the context desribed in the OP. Asked the locals at the bar and they just gave me WTF looks and answers.
We have Michigan left turns and Mile Roads here. If “granny parking” was a thing people would be talking about it.
Never once heard of of that phrase (or any phrase) for it.
Personally I’d call it “sensible parking”, because it’s a safer way to park, provided you have the very minimal parking skills required to do it.
In west Mich for 25 years never heard of the term.
I almost never pull through an empty parking space to park facing out. It’s pita to access the rear of the car to load groceries if someone has pulled in behind you. At home I will back in to unload groceries.
It does in the Netherlands. Along with parallel parking and backing in.
Badly constructed sentence! (Mine, that is.)
Nah, my not being a granny probably has more to do with being weird.
Not IME. Parallel parking is, though.
To add to the pile-on, I’ve never heard of the term “granny parking”, either (grew up in the Chicago area, have lived in North Carolina for a couple of decades). And I would also have guessed something about overly hesitant and/or sloppy parking.
I was taught the back-in technique in the Army. Partially for the quick getaway aspect, and partially for sightline/safety reasons.
In my current job in Logistics, we get a lot of driver training, and have gone through several outside contractors over the years. One year the pre-made driver training package we got instructed us not to back into spaces. But that was a true outlier. Also a bit confusing since our in-house training still advised backing in.
Other than that one-off package, all of the driver training I’ve gotten over the last couple of decades, with three different companies and a number of different outside training contractors, have taught the back-in technique as preferred, for sightline/safety reasons (they have all, including that one-off that advised against backing, taught the “pull-through” as the best option where and when practical).