Cager clarification

[Melalvai]

I've used the term "cager" a couple times and I wanted to clarify what I mean.
Cager probably just means someone who drives a car. I use it as a derogatory term for someone in a motor vehicle who is harrassing a cyclist.

My husband is terribly offended by the term and I don't say it around him. I've explained that I don't mean he is a cager, or that I am when I drive the car, but he still objects. So, if it does offend anyone, I will avoid using it on this forum too.

[Zen]

I don't know why it would be offensive
I always think of it as a term used by hard - core bikers (motorcyclists)

[onimity]

I think it is a great term...& one I wish bicyclists used more often.

It reminds me of a caged animal and of course all of the endearing behavior that comes with being caged. It's so appropriate.

& don't worry about your husband...I don't understand why anyone would be particularly offended by it but you can feel free to use it here without worrying about that I think...

Anne

[mimitabby]

use it here... with abandon!

[boy in a kilt]

cager is actually an english corruption of the french word cagier which means "frustrated person stuck in a machine that is in the process of sucking both their wallet and soul dry so they are all frustrated about it and taking it out on people who aren't stuck in such an obviously silly means of coveyance."

[Tuckervill]

When I first read the term on this board some time ago, I was a little offended. I also thought it was hypocritical, since most of the people here also drive cars when they're not riding.

But I have a personal bias. My husband wants a motorcycle and I don't want him to have one. He's at that "risky age" (44) of those who are most likely killed or injured on motorcycles. He has no (none, zero, zip, nada) experience with them. He's really tall so any bike that's not custom built (which $$ defeats his stated purpose of saving on gas) is going to be a poor fit with his center of gravity too high. That combined with his inexperience and his distinct lack of athletic ability make him MORE at risk, in my opinion, of a crash. (I rode dirt bikes when I was a teenager, so I DO have experience--I'm not talking about something I know nothing about.)

I can't say all that to him, directly, so mostly I protest against "biker culture". They just had Bikes, Blues & BBQ up here recently. 400,000 people, 200,000 bikes. So many of them are just poseurs! Old farts with desk jobs, wearing their leather and their "the b**** fell off t-shirts" in some kind of expensive fantasy game. Studded chaps? PUH-Lease!! The minute my husband (as described above) uses the word "cager", that's when it ENDS.

He might be able to convince me if he gets me my own bike, though.

Karen

[7rider]

When I first read the term on this board some time ago, I was a little offended. I also thought it was hypocritical, since most of the people here also drive cars when they're not riding.

Although I've used the term...I find "cager" to be pretty judgemental - and somewhat derogatory.
My own take: There are good (i.e., courteous) people who drive cars, and there are nasty people who drive cars. It is the latter group who gets the term "cager."
Thus....although I too drive a car, I strive to NOT be a cager!