Using Utensils

Driving Dialects

I quickly learned to never abbreviate San Francisco by calling it San Fran. No matter where you are in the Bay area, even if you’re in the middle of Oakland or San Jose, it’s always either San Francisco or the city.

Learning the regional speech dialects has been relatively easy, it’s the driving dialect that still throws me off.

No Nods of Gratitude

After passing through a speed trap of three CHP cops I warned the oncoming speeding mass of the danger with a few flashes of my headlights. Instead of the familiar nods of gratitude I was given the finger by one person and the “what?” look by another.

This completely threw me off… here I thought I was being a good guy.

In the Northeast, whether it’s day or night, it’s customary to warn oncoming traffic of speed traps by very quickly flashing your car’s high beams a few time.

No Beeping

only used when someone accidentally hits them

This isn’t the first misinterpreted road signal I’ve given while in the Bay Area.

I once beeped my horn at a women who slammed on her breaks at the entrance of an empty highway merger. That short little beep scared the crap out of her and she looked like she was going to have a heart attack.

It’s kind of surreal… cars can block traffic, cut each other off, and nearly rear end one another all in utter horn silence. So apparently in the Bay Area car horns are like turn signals in North Carolina and only used when someone accidentally hits them.

If you want to see a Bay Area driver freak out simply beep your car horn at them.