This response is literally road rage. (Given the discussion about literally vs figuratively elsewhere in the thread, I genuinely mean literally).
Road rage is dangerous for you, the other driver, and other bystanders on the road. Please reassess how you respond to perceived aggressions and slights while driving. The only time you should escalate is if another road user is actively putting others in harm’s way (e.g. DUI) and even then the best course of action is probably calling your local authorities for them to handle the situation. If the situation is not severe enough to warrant a 911 call, your focus should be on de-escalation (before it turns into a situation that is).
Just because you called it out and this is a thread about pedantry: road rage is an idiomatic phrase, which is a type of figurative language. So, you were using literally to emphasize figurative language rather than try to clarify you weren’t using the idiomatic meaning of the phrase but rather a literal.
Weird thing is that I perceived that my statement was related to pedanticism. I’ll agree I’m not a pedantic in a traditional sense, but road rules and environment can potentially be pedantic because there are certain rules that need to be followed to ensure proper road etiquette. I.e. following distance, mental condition, speeding, lane discipline, and courtesy to other drivers
And I’m not questioning your intelligence, but pedanticism is a difficult word today. It means “the qualities of a pedant”
I didn’t say your statement was pedantic. Just that you specifically called out your use of literally as not used in a figurative sense and that this thread in general is about pedantry. Those two things together made it seem not totally insufferable to point out that literal was actually being applied to figurative language.
Pretty sure I covered your whole comment with “I might have anger management issues”
And to me, no. It’s not just road rage. It’s the potential of belittling people because of what is most likely misunderstanding or miscommunication. Everyone is guilty of those daily, but if you treat people as a villian or a lesser because of what could be a misunderstanding, and physically express gestures, then how are with expressing those gestures in person. To me, most people treat others like that because they think they’re either infallible in the situation, infallible period, or they believe there are no repercussions to their actions. When I lose my temper, I go out of my way to prove them all wrong
There’s a huge difference between losing your temper when controlling a digital go-kart versus a real-life one-ton vehicle.
It’s a good first step that you recognize this is a problem, but it needs to be followed up with actions you can take when it occurs. In the case of driving, if your impulse is to follow the driver who pissed you off, you need to get off the road at the very first safe opportunity (a side street, a freeway exit, a parking lot, whatever) to give yourself a chance to cool down and both mentally and physically distance yourself from the situation. It doesn’t matter how much of a jerk the other party is (again, unless they are actively putting people in danger, in which case you should be pulling over to call emergency services); when you’re on the road the only thing you should be concerned with is your own behavior. There is zero justification for escalation; you are not teaching the other person a lesson, you are putting people’s lives at risk over a minor slight.
I used to work in transportation and you wouldn’t believe the horror stories. Please don’t underestimate how quicky and easily road rage situations can turn ugly; it’s never worth it.
This response is literally road rage. (Given the discussion about literally vs figuratively elsewhere in the thread, I genuinely mean literally).
Road rage is dangerous for you, the other driver, and other bystanders on the road. Please reassess how you respond to perceived aggressions and slights while driving. The only time you should escalate is if another road user is actively putting others in harm’s way (e.g. DUI) and even then the best course of action is probably calling your local authorities for them to handle the situation. If the situation is not severe enough to warrant a 911 call, your focus should be on de-escalation (before it turns into a situation that is).
Just because you called it out and this is a thread about pedantry: road rage is an idiomatic phrase, which is a type of figurative language. So, you were using literally to emphasize figurative language rather than try to clarify you weren’t using the idiomatic meaning of the phrase but rather a literal.
Weird thing is that I perceived that my statement was related to pedanticism. I’ll agree I’m not a pedantic in a traditional sense, but road rules and environment can potentially be pedantic because there are certain rules that need to be followed to ensure proper road etiquette. I.e. following distance, mental condition, speeding, lane discipline, and courtesy to other drivers
And I’m not questioning your intelligence, but pedanticism is a difficult word today. It means “the qualities of a pedant”
A pedant is a person obsessed with small details
I didn’t say your statement was pedantic. Just that you specifically called out your use of literally as not used in a figurative sense and that this thread in general is about pedantry. Those two things together made it seem not totally insufferable to point out that literal was actually being applied to figurative language.
Fair enough. You make a good point, and again, you are a very intelligent person. At no point were my intentions to insult that
Pretty sure I covered your whole comment with “I might have anger management issues”
And to me, no. It’s not just road rage. It’s the potential of belittling people because of what is most likely misunderstanding or miscommunication. Everyone is guilty of those daily, but if you treat people as a villian or a lesser because of what could be a misunderstanding, and physically express gestures, then how are with expressing those gestures in person. To me, most people treat others like that because they think they’re either infallible in the situation, infallible period, or they believe there are no repercussions to their actions. When I lose my temper, I go out of my way to prove them all wrong
There’s a huge difference between losing your temper when controlling a digital go-kart versus a real-life one-ton vehicle.
It’s a good first step that you recognize this is a problem, but it needs to be followed up with actions you can take when it occurs. In the case of driving, if your impulse is to follow the driver who pissed you off, you need to get off the road at the very first safe opportunity (a side street, a freeway exit, a parking lot, whatever) to give yourself a chance to cool down and both mentally and physically distance yourself from the situation. It doesn’t matter how much of a jerk the other party is (again, unless they are actively putting people in danger, in which case you should be pulling over to call emergency services); when you’re on the road the only thing you should be concerned with is your own behavior. There is zero justification for escalation; you are not teaching the other person a lesson, you are putting people’s lives at risk over a minor slight.
I used to work in transportation and you wouldn’t believe the horror stories. Please don’t underestimate how quicky and easily road rage situations can turn ugly; it’s never worth it.