# Do you say “speed humps” or “speed bumps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971 "2022-10-29T17:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/1 "2022-10-29T17:17:49Z")
I used to see them labeled the first way, but recently it’s changed. Is it a regionalism? What do they say in your neck of the woods (I’m in central PA)? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/2 "2022-10-29T17:21:49Z")
Depends on how wide the bumps are. IME, “speed humps” are used interchangeably with “speed tables” whereas “speed bumps” are narrow things. Those who want to enforce really slow traffic use double bumps. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1667064076787!6m8!1m7!1sLp4LfT2Y9MAsCcNaMys9Kw!2m2!1d38.84106436170599!2d-77.12064048743491!3f66.55001483001656!4f0!5f0.7820865974627469 ---
**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:** [October 29, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/3 "2022-10-29T17:21:54Z")
It’s bumps in western Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/4 "2022-10-29T17:29:46Z")
Bumps. At least that’s what I say. I’ve not discussed this topic with the long-time locals of this county. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/5 "2022-10-29T17:33:18Z")
Bumps on central Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/6 "2022-10-29T18:06:48Z")
Mostly bumps in California, but we’d recognize hump as a kind of bump that is shallower but thicker. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/7 "2022-10-29T18:09:10Z")
Bumps are the narrow sharp ones in parking lots, humps are the wide undulating ones (they were even called “undulations” when they first started being common in the landscape) with the cuts to accomodate emergency vehicles. A bump has to be taken at about 5mph or you’re asking for trouble in your undercarriage, a hump is made to be navigable at the posted speed limit. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/8 "2022-10-29T18:10:21Z")
[![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQv9hBLP3JClGjn62Fxbk8I5ay8TawFI-jGTIJcLaqsrF-Xfe_puVsDITHwOC7KMXxF9Nk&usqp=CAU) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQv9hBLP3JClGjn62Fxbk8I5ay8TawFI-jGTIJcLaqsrF-Xfe_puVsDITHwOC7KMXxF9Nk&usqp=CAU) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/9 "2022-10-29T18:11:03Z")
“Speed bumps” in my area of the Midwest, regardless of size or shape. I’ve rarely heard anyone use “speed hump.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/10 "2022-10-29T18:23:08Z")
We have one of the wide ones nearby, and the sign reads, “Bump”. Perhaps it is a regional term. Where is the picture from, Joey\_P? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/11 "2022-10-29T18:40:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Perhaps it is a regional term. Where is the picture from, Joey\_P? Fairly certain the distinction between bumps and humps is one made by professionals, whereas non-professionals mostly use one term for both kinds. There may be some regionalism on which term the non-professionals use. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/12 "2022-10-29T18:48:12Z")
I’ve always said “bumps”, and that’s all I ever saw or heard for much of my life. But I am noticing many more signs around here that say “speed humps” now. I was traveling the first time I saw “speed humps”, and I remember chuckling since I thought it was a mistake, and the word “hump” was only known to me as a euphemism for sex. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/13 "2022-10-29T18:53:21Z")
This is the first time I have ever encountered the phrase “speed hump.” Until I saw some of the other responses in this thread, I would have said that anyone using the term “speed hump” had mis-heard “speed bump.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/14 "2022-10-29T19:33:39Z")
It may be an age thing even more than regional. For most of my life, only speed bumps existed. Then engineers finally realized that humps would do the same work with less damage and they’re nearly universal in new installations. I’ll probably always think of them as speed bumps. But someone getting their first drivers license today probably will always think of them as speed humps. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/15 "2022-10-29T19:55:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > We have one of the wide ones nearby, and the sign reads, “Bump”. > Perhaps it is a regional term. Where is the picture from, Joey\_P? I dunno, just a random picture I found. I can tell you, at least where I am (Milwaukee/midwest) we have both speed humps and speed bumps. Speed humps are usually in the road, usually near a crosswalk and mostly designed to get you to slow down to something like 15 mph. Speed Bumps are really just in parking lots and meant to get you down to about 5-10 mph. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/16 "2022-10-29T20:02:43Z")
Speed bumps, here; though we do have two with signage calling them “speed humps” in front of the high school… whose mascot/team name is the “Camels”. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/17 "2022-10-29T20:04:55Z")
I knew the difference because of all the speed humps that have been put up in my area. Our block lobbied for them, but got assigned chicanes instead (probably for the best). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/18 "2022-10-29T20:06:43Z")
I know what the difference is, but I’ve only ever called them bumps. Never even heard anyone say hump in this context. I’m in SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/19 "2022-10-29T20:07:03Z")
Also, a quick search for that picture finds that it shows up on websites in: [Pennsylvania](https://greencastlepa.gov/documents/574/2021-03-01_Managers_Report.pdf) [California](https://www.jurupavalley.org/DocumentCenter/View/1567/Speed-Hump-Policies-and-Procedures-PDF?bidId=) [The Philippines](https://www.facebook.com/orragudosarchitecturalservices/) [Ireland](https://sites.google.com/site/johnstowntimes01/april-2017-edition-1/this-edition/our-community/traffic-calming) The list goes on, but I think finding that exact picture (or first hand knowledge of humps vs bumps) in PA, CA, WI, The Philippines and Ireland suggests it’s not a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/20 "2022-10-29T20:11:02Z")
We got bumps and humps in my small city in Michigan. (And they are labelled such) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971.md?page=2)