dancing in the streets

Factual Questions
1

…or the hallway.

Yesterday I was walking down the hall in my office building when I rounded a corner and encountered someone. We both hesitated for a moment, then we did that familiar dance – I stepped to one side and the other person stepped the same way. Then I stepped the other direction, and the other person did as well. It took three or four tries before we finally managed to step so that we weren’t blocking each other. This also happens if I encounter someone on the sidewalk.

Now I’ve had this happen to me on several occasions, but this time I started to wonder why, when two people meet like that, they both step the same way? If I step right, the other person steps left, thus we end up in the same position relative to each other. So what’s the answer?

2

It’s the “green van on the corner” syndrome.

One thinks that that green van on the corner is “always” there, but actually it’s just that it doesn’t register in your head when it isn’t. In other words, the times that you sidestep one way and the other guy sidesteps the other way, it doesn’t register in your head as unusual.

BTW, here’s one of Cecil’s columns that suggest names for it:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_241.html

God is my co-pilot. Blame Him.

3

For starters, since each of you chooses to move either right or left, aren’t you starting off with a fifty-fifty chance of moving in the same direction? Now imagine meeting someone just around a corner. One of you has your right shoulder to the wall, the other their left. Where is there more open space to politely move out of the way? In the same direction.

Fortunately for those of us who can’t dance very well, we’ve been culturally conditioned to a slight degree to move to our right. It seems to keep cars from bonking each other in the nose, and it typically works for us on our feet as well. Maybe this waters down the fifty-fifty odds a bit. Be careful walking in England.
Thanks for listening,

Rhythmdvl

PS. I would say that a good ’77 Dancing’ is one of the only ways to truly appreciate Donna.

Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…

4

Miss Manners says that each person should always move to their right. If you move to your right and your opposite number moves to his or her left, stop moving entirely and allow the other person to go around you, and say “excuse me.”

5

I always stop, put my hands up, and say:

“OK, once more, but then I really have to go.”

Tris

Imagine my signature begins five spaces to the right of center.

6

I’ve always wondered about this!

So do the English & Aussies actually walk on the left as well as drive there? What did people do BEFORE cars? Did walking habits create auto laws or vice-versa?

Oops. Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack :slight_smile:

The adage “Knowledge is Power” is incorrect. The correct formulation is “Knowledge that other people don’t have is Power”. - The Donald