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!

[salsabike]

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.

Yup.

[OakLeaf]

Tuck, I totally get why you want your DH safely away from motorcycles. (If you really can't talk him out of it, insist that he take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class before he ever gets on a bike of his own, and the Reg Pridmore CLASS school in his first year. If/when he gets his first bike, it should be a SMALL one; but truthfully COG is more of an issue for us inseam-challenged types than it is for people who can flatfoot, and in any case it's really only an issue at all at very low speed.)

But back to topic: in my experience, "cager" is a term used by real motorcyclists much more than bikers. (If you don't understand the distinction, that's a whole 'nother thread...) Maybe it's some kind of "biker" thing to think that one is a "biker" whether or not one actually owns a motorcycle, and therefore someone must also be a "cager" whether or not they're actually driving the car. But I've never heard the term used that way. "Cager" is derogatory, yes, but I don't think the term applies to anyone who's not TWO. Just somebody who happens to be in a cage at the time.

DH and I sometimes talk about taking the cage, ourselves. It is one, after all. I don't think it has anything to do with their driving abilities or anything. Just their choice to cut themselves off from sensory input and physical control of their vehicles.

[Tuckervill]

Oak, the problem with the classes is that they're on loaner bikes, which won't fit him. He also has a physical issue with his hips which limits his range of motion, so that makes riding a too-small bike for a class pretty much out of the question. (He can ride a bicycle, so he's not totally disabled.)

It's not like these are hurtles we can't work through. You can fix any problem with enough time or money, right? I wouldn't stand in his way, just like he doesn't stand in my way. But, I'm just hoping his wish meets up with reality before he goes on and gets hisself kilt.

Karen

[Melalvai]

I heard another term that my husband does not object to: gasholes!

[bmccasland]

So what does one call one's-self if one is terribly fustrated with other cars while driving a car? I'm not a cager, since I try to be careful around cars, and large pieces of farm equipment, but idiot drivers drive me to drink! Please, please may I have use of the vapor gun? (but not while driving despite the proximity of drive-thru Daiquiri shops)

OK, I'm sniping, dealing with a sick cat and stress at work is starting to get to me. ARRRRGGGGGHHH!

[Tuckervill]

Stupid darts. My husband says we should get to carry around a gun that shoots stupid darts. You can shoot them at other cars and they stick for 24 hours, so everyone can see that they did something stupid. lol.

Karen

[maillotpois]

Oak, the problem with the classes is that they're on loaner bikes, which won't fit him. He also has a physical issue with his hips which limits his range of motion, so that makes riding a too-small bike for a class pretty much out of the question. (He can ride a bicycle, so he's not totally disabled.)


Karen

I took the MSF class a couple of weeks ago. There was a guy in it who was 6'5" easily - he looked like he was on a clown bike on the motorcycle they gave him. However, I will say that they had a range of motorcycles, some a bit taller. He should definitely check it out - see exactly what's offered and talk about his concerns about size of bike and physical issues. I bet they could help him out.

It was a great class. I traded in my Vespa for a motorcycle.

[Eden]

Stupid darts. My husband says we should get to carry around a gun that shoots stupid darts. You can shoot them at other cars and they stick for 24 hours, so everyone can see that they did something stupid. lol.

Karen

I've seen people who actually do carry around little magnets that they stick on cars that come to close - one person had share the road, I think. Someone else's said something on the lines of "this was put on your car to let you know you nearly ran over a cyclist....". I think yet another proposed one that just said "Dangerous Driver" to let everyone else know to stay away.