# Weird very localized customs you've seen in your area/work **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2020, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919 "2020-10-26T09:33:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![leswax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@leswax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leswax)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/41 "2020-10-27T23:05:58Z")
Did you get a ticket for running a red light or “blocking the box?” If you enter an intersection with insufficient space to clear the intersection then when the light changes the traffic with a green light can’t proceed. I think this would be a ticket for obstructing traffic and not running a red light. This applies in New York City–not sure if it’s a state-wide traffic code. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/42 "2020-10-27T23:31:20Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Causes lots of grumbling when tourists and other visitors don’t get it, and block the whole escalator. We aren’t “blocking” the escalator, we are using it safely as it was designed to be used and the warning signs say to use it. If you’re in a hurry, run up the stairs. I get it and I always stand as far right as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Joeu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joeu/32/2911_2.png) [@Joeu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joeu)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/43 "2020-10-27T23:44:30Z")
> [@leswax](#): > > Did you get a ticket for running a red light or “blocking the box?” If you enter an intersection with insufficient space to clear the intersection then when the light changes the traffic with a green light can’t proceed. I think this would be a ticket for obstructing traffic and not running a red light. This applies in New York City–not sure if it’s a state-wide traffic code. I’m in NYC! This was on the West Side Highway, in a normal intersection, not marked as a “box” and the ticket was definitely for running a red light, not obstructing an intersection. But you are right–logically (and probably legally!) the ticket should have been for obstructing traffic. As you probably know, though, in NYC what you can get a ticket for and what you’ve actually done are often very different things. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/44 "2020-10-28T00:04:12Z")
I don’t live in a place where the snow shoveling thing happens, because we don’t tend to get that much snow. But it makes perfect sense to me in places where shoveling out a place is a lot of work, and there aren’t actual designated spaces for parking spot otherwise, (e.g. in front of your house.) If you don’t have dibs, then you have some people who dig out more than one space, and then others who never dig out spaces. I totally see why it would become a sense of fairness that you only park in spaces you’ve shoveled out. I’d never thought of it before hearing about it here on the Dope, but it makes sense to me once I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/45 "2020-10-28T03:45:43Z")
Also “not done” in South St. Louis neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/46 "2020-10-28T04:32:44Z")
Philadelphia is definitely a “dibs” areas with regards to shoveling out a parking space, even though I’ve never heard it called that. Once you have your space, blocking it with chairs, traffic cones, or milk crates is the norm. This is most commonly seen in the narrow streets of South Philly (think, Rocky) and places colonized by folks from South Philly like South Jersey and Northeast Philly. Failure to honor the custom may lead to physical altercation and occasional gunplay. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/47 "2020-10-28T04:37:56Z")
Pretty minor, but - I was once in a meeting given by a directorate level NASA official. Most of us were taking notes as various future assignments were being discussed. Then he remarked that we needed to “reclama” something. I looked around and saw people nodding in agreement. I just looked up “reclama” to refresh my memory and still have no idea why it needs an exotic (Spanish?) name. Never heard that word again. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/48 "2020-10-28T05:00:45Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > In NYC, the custom is that, if you don’t want to walk up (or down) the escalator, move to the right. The left side is for those who want to go faster (which is just about everyone in NYC). > > Causes lots of grumbling when tourists and other visitors don’t get it, and block the whole escalator. Isn’t this the same for any big city? It’s definitely the case in Chicago, D.C. and London. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/49 "2020-10-28T14:36:55Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > Philadelphia is definitely a “dibs” areas with regards to shoveling out a parking space, even though I’ve never heard it called that Ditto for Reading. When I was there a friend of mine lived on a block of row houses so street parking was at a premium. Since no one with government connections lived on the block, after a heavy snowfall it could be a couple days for the street to get plowed. So the people on the block created an ad-hoc snow removal group. After the show stopped, money would be collected, a truck rented, and the able-bodied would spend an afternoon shoveling the stuff into the rental to be hauled away. Cars would be moved about so not only the street part, all of the parking spaces were clear. One time though, somebody from the next block over started parking on the cleared block. A note was left under the windshield, _You contributed neither money nor labor – park somewhere else_. The next evening he parked there again, was verbally notified, and the response was to FO and walk away. It was below zero that night, so several people packed eight snow chocks under the wheels and the guy whose house it was in front of got his hose out of storage. They took turns spraying the car until in was encased in about two inches. The downside was the space was unavailable to anyone else until March. ---
**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 28, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/50 "2020-10-28T14:56:43Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > One time though, somebody from the next block over started parking on the cleared block. A note was left under the windshield, _You contributed neither money nor labor – park somewhere else_ . In high school, one of my friends drove his VW Beetle to school. He parked on a public street wherever he could find a space. When he parked in front of an old woman’s house, she would leave a loooong, crazy-rambling note on his windshield, which he’d share with us the next day. He ignored the letters, as he wasn’t breaking any laws. One day three of us cut out of study hall and found our friend’s car parked in front of crazy lady’s house. We lifted the front end and moved it toward her home, then moved to the rear of the car, moving the car until it was right on her lawn. Later that day, a town cop came into class and took our friend away. He didn’t get into any real trouble, and he didn’t turn us in (he knew it had to be us). Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/51 "2020-10-28T15:31:13Z")
In Hawaii, avocados were called pears or avocado pears to distinguush them from bartlett pears, but never just avocados. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/52 "2020-10-28T16:14:50Z")
On a nearby island (un-named to protect the guilty) in our little archipelago the custom is to raise two fingers from the steering wheel as a greeting to oncoming cars - no hands, just the casual lift. Locally referred to as the “\_\_\_\_\_ Wave”. Pretty sure Johnny LA will know where this is. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/53 "2020-10-28T16:19:03Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > the custom is to raise two fingers from the steering wheel as a greeting to oncoming cars - no hands, just the casual lift. Locally referred to as the “\_\_\_\_\_ Wave”. That is known as “the Nebraska farmer/rancher wave”-mandatory in my parts. ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/54 "2020-10-28T16:35:15Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > On a nearby island (un-named to protect the guilty) in our little archipelago Heh. In St Martin, everyone beeps their horn. My first time there I was trying to figure out all the roundabouts (no traffic lights on the island, all roundabouts) and people were constantly beeping at me. I was freaking out. My gf explained when/why to beep and I relaxed. I let someone in from a side road, they beep and I beep in return. A truck needs to back into a space and I want to allow it, I beep and he beeps in return. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/55 "2020-10-28T17:12:39Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Also “not done” in South St. Louis neighborhoods. Hell, in South St. Louis, the spot in front of your house is “your” spot 24/7/365, period. For years, the St. Louis Police actually posted on their website that residents don’t have a right to a parking spot on a public street. Violation of that custom will still get you a lot of dirty looks from your older neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/56 "2020-10-28T17:18:49Z")
Most places I’ve been have either ride only, or riders on the right and climbers on the left. It depends on the place, mostly. Airports tend to have the ride or climb protocol. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/57 "2020-10-28T17:37:16Z")
Did your previous job that used “foils” perhaps have anything to do with IBM? That’s what their corporate slang was, mostly when using transparencies (before projectors with PowerPoint was a thing). Still don’t know if that’s a thing there. From the IBM Archives glossary site: > [@](#): > > **n. View graph, transparency, view foil – a thin sheet of transparent plastic material used for “overhead” projection of illustrations (visual aids). This is a widely used device in IBM and many IBMers are physically incapable of delivering an oral presentation without a stack of foils.** ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/58 "2020-10-28T17:54:09Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Did your previous job that used “foils” perhaps have anything to do with IBM? Not directly, but it was in the same industry – it was at Intel. I guess at one time they were very closely linked to IBM. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/59 "2020-10-28T17:59:42Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > In Hawaii, avocados were called pears or avocado pears to distinguush them from bartlett pears, but never just avocados. Weird. What I now call an avocado was, when I was growing up (here in the UK, lets say 40 years ago) called an avocado pear. j ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919/60 "2020-10-28T19:01:12Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > That is known as “the Nebraska farmer/rancher wave”-mandatory in my parts. Its also a thing in rual Texas and Oklahoma. Used once you are sufficiently far from town or a major road. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-very-localized-customs-youve-seen-in-your-area-work/923919.md?page=4)