# Clueless white guy asks another race-related question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 1, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437 "2021-07-01T16:27:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/21 "2021-07-03T11:24:21Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I walk my dogs on trails all the time and have noticed that people smile and nod about half the time. I’ve been training our new puppy and one of our things has been walking on a local trail. My goal is for her to ignore other people/animals and key on me. I’m sure some of the bicyclists/runners/walkers are trying to communicate with me, but my concentration is on the dog, so people probably think I’m rude/aloof. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/22 "2021-07-04T02:49:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I walk my dogs on trails all the time and have noticed that people smile and nod about half the time. I never make eye contact first…I am terrible at eye contact in general. I’m so uncomfortable passing strangers like that. I do try to smile and if they say hello I’ll respond, but it’s soooo awkward. I don’t know if they’d rather be acknowledged or left alone and personally I’d just rather not. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/23 "2021-07-04T16:37:23Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Teens and twentysomethings of either race just ignore me. I wonder how many of them had ‘don’t talk to strangers’ drummed so hard into their heads when they were 5 that it hasn’t occured to them that this is one of the rules that change when one grows up. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/24 "2021-07-04T17:39:46Z")
Maybe they have earbuds stuck in their ears. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Dinsdale1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale1)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/25 "2021-07-04T20:05:15Z")
My general practice is to at least make eye contact, and nod slightly. It has impressed me how minimal of a nod is perceived. I think it serves a couple of purposes, but basically just acknowledges the existence of a fellow human sharing a path. When biking, it also signals that you are aware of each other’s presence, so you’ll avoid getting in each other’s way. I also think it is a friendly gesture - which is not a bad thing. As opposed to staring through someone, which impresses me as hostile or unwelcoming. I can imagine folk saying that ignoring someone gives them privacy. And on a crowded sidewalk, I do not smile at and greet passers by. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/26 "2021-07-04T22:43:55Z")
> [@Dinsdale1](#): > > I live in a suburb west of Chicago. A bike path runs east-west. My town is largely white, as are the towns to the west. To the east is mostly Black. You move, bro? Unless you moved East hat doesn’t describe the bike paths around here, and I have my National Rails to Trails tee shirt somewhere. On the trail a simple “passing on the left” is understood unresentedly by most, even the dogs. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/27 "2021-07-05T01:36:07Z")
I took 12 week old Kizzy and 7 year old Loki for a walk on a nice local trail with access to a couple of creeks today. When we encountered walkers/bikes/runners/dogs my attention was 100% on my dogs, making sure they remained engaged with my banter. I did sort of listen for any “heys”, but there weren’t any. Maybe. When I got home, I realized that I couldn’t hear my gf asking how things had gone. I’d forgotten to put my hearing aid in. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Dinsdale1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale1)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/28 "2021-07-05T02:05:59Z")
Yeah - Elmhurst. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/29 "2021-07-17T04:14:07Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Where do you people live that most people you see on the street say hello or wave? I’m sure it’s happened, but I can’t recall a specific time that’s ever happened to me in my life. I’ve lived in Illinois and the DC area. Yeah, I’ve spent most of my adult life in and around Boston, New York City and Hudson Country NJ. Generally people don’t just say “hello” or otherwise interact with me or other runners/bikers. There are usually just too many people around. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/30 "2021-07-17T13:54:25Z")
Having biked that very path many times, coming from the east … I don’t have the same experience. The big differences I see are that east of Elmhurst (from where the path starts on 1st) there are many area in which the path crosses lots more streets, it is not as pretty of a ride, and there are fewer people on the path. The people I pass by though all respond to my head nod or “excuse me … on your left” pretty much the same, even when I’ve been looking more like the first cyclist than the second. FWIW I get the same equal levels of acknowledgement when I’ve gone east of my home on the streets through the predominantly poorer Black west side of Chicago to the lake front. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437/31 "2021-07-17T14:03:05Z")
I use the rural finger wave in my car, and out of habit on my bike too. > **[The Rural Wave](https://www.jaydeemahs.com/the-rural-wave/)** > > Rarely do you pass anyone going the opposite direction on these roads - but when you do, everyone extends one form or another of the rural wave to each other.  It's just what you do. And I love it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-white-guy-asks-another-race-related-question/945437.md?page=1)