Near/off side - is this thread crossed yet?

["Jon Inge" <joninge@domain.elided>]

Scott Fisher wrote:

<<...the driver's seat, which may be either on the near side or the
off side, depending on which side of the pond the car originates)....
....Which side is "near" and which is "off," I have no clue.>>

TATerry responded:

<<The near side is of course the side nearest the curb as you would be
driving
in England on the "right" side of the road....the Brits were not nasty and
did not mark their knock ONs differently for export cars.....all the
spinners
or knock-ons were conveniently marked "Undo" with an arrow.....very clever
these Brits!!!
Cheers
Terry>>

Speaking as an ex-pat non-horse-riding Englishman living in the US, I'm with
Terry; I've always used "nearside" to refer to the side nearest the
curb/sidewalk (in American)/pavement (in English), leaving "off" as "off in
the other direction," i.e. towards the middle of the road.  So "near" and
"off" could be either right or left, depending on where you are, but the
driver's seat is usually on the off side ("on" the "off" side?).  I think my
brain just blew a fuse (Alfa content).

Jon Inge
86 Spider Veloce "Arturo"
Edmonds, WA

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