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From: Avenger on 9 Sep 2006 03:20

"Jill" <asker_w(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:oou2g299bnbc9e5qnjjuj2f5899iih2tul(a)4ax.com...
> On 8 Sep 2006 05:14:33 -0700, "ddnoe(a)bellsouth.net"
> <ddnoe(a)bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>I have a friend who said the tradition of the man walking on the right
>>side or outside of the woman is because people used to drop slop jars
>>out of their windows and the person closest to the street was more
>>likely to get clobbered by urine and excrement than the person walking
>>closer to the wall. Does anyone know if this is true?
>> Thanks to anyone who assists.
>
> I heard it was because horse and carriages and later automobiles would
> first strike who ever was walking closest to the curb so in theory a
> man walking there would be protecting a lady. Whatever the reason,
> there is no longer any such thing as "a lady" so the practice is no
> longer in place.

First of all the term "lady" like "gentleman" applies to members of thew
titled classes. Ordinary people are referred to as men or women.
Now , the reason a man walked near the kerb was very simple and it was not
so he could be injured before the female. In the old days when horses were
used for transportation a man walked on the street side. If you know
anything about horses you will know that they are very strong and
unpredictable (unlike automobiles) and take a strong person to control them.
A female would simply not be up to controlling an unruly or runaway horse or
carriage.
>


From: Doug Laidlaw on 10 Sep 2006 12:06
Avenger wrote:

>
> "Jill" <asker_w(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:oou2g299bnbc9e5qnjjuj2f5899iih2tul(a)4ax.com...
>> On 8 Sep 2006 05:14:33 -0700, "ddnoe(a)bellsouth.net"
>> <ddnoe(a)bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>>>I have a friend who said the tradition of the man walking on the right
>>>side or outside of the woman is because people used to drop slop jars
>>>out of their windows and the person closest to the street was more
>>>likely to get clobbered by urine and excrement than the person walking
>>>closer to the wall. Does anyone know if this is true?
>>> Thanks to anyone who assists.
>>
>> I heard it was because horse and carriages and later automobiles would
>> first strike who ever was walking closest to the curb so in theory a
>> man walking there would be protecting a lady. Whatever the reason,
>> there is no longer any such thing as "a lady" so the practice is no
>> longer in place.
>
> First of all the term "lady" like "gentleman" applies to members of thew
> titled classes. Ordinary people are referred to as men or women.
> Now , the reason a man walked near the kerb was very simple and it was not
> so he could be injured before the female. In the old days when horses were
> used for transportation a man walked on the street side. If you know
> anything about horses you will know that they are very strong and
> unpredictable (unlike automobiles) and take a strong person to control
> them. A female would simply not be up to controlling an unruly or runaway
> horse or carriage.
>>
I understood that the original reason was that people would empty things
from windows. At about high-school age, I saw it recommended to protect
the lady (we called our wives and g-fs ladies in those days, gave them
seats in buses, opened doors for them, etc, etc...) from grime thrown up by
automobile wheels. These days the ladies are able to look after themselves
- officially. I was in Court when a young man was charged over getting
involved in a brawl trying to protect a girl. The Magistrate hearing the
case (actually the Chief) was a woman. Although sympathetic, she told the
lad "We girls can look after ourselves."

Slashdot had a question recently by the only girl in an all-male IT
workplace. She was finding it hard to mix with the guys. The answers were
all "on the level", non-sexist:
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/31/1755259

Doug L.
--
Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to
you.
- Elbert Hubbard

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