shorthand terms & descriptions

[SafeAirOne]

My understaning was that :-

N/S Near side to kerb (Left hand of veh.)
O/S Off-side to kerb (Right hand of veh.)

Of course, this would only apply to Right Hand Drive veh.s though !!

Near side would be the side that the driver is on and far side is the passenger side. Imagine the description as though sitting in the driver's seat. Of course this means nothing in a land full of LHD and RHD vehicles.

OK...many people would think that those two explanations contradict each other but I can make lemonade out of lemons--My Rover is a right hand drive AND I drive it around in America so MY driver's side IS next to the kerb. Therefore, the near-side!

[Paul Rossmann]

Just to keep things confusing; 'near side" and "far side" are polo terms and refer to the side that the mallet is held in which generally means right and left. I dont know if one is allowed to hold the mallet in the "wrong" hand. I have heard the term used for curb side referring to cars. Therefore "near side" would mean drivers side for right hand drive at least. The rest is all Brittish to me.

[Les Parker]

Did you have a tail wind that day and on a downhill gradient?
Seems like a swift time trial.

[Leslie]

Just to keep things confusing; 'near side" and "far side" are polo terms and refer to the side that the mallet is held in which generally means right and left. I dont know if one is allowed to hold the mallet in the "wrong" hand. I have heard the term used for curb side referring to cars. Therefore "near side" would mean drivers side for right hand drive at least. The rest is all Brittish to me.

Close....

It's not polo terms, it's horsemenship terminology....

When you mount a horse, you approach and mount on the horse's left side, which is thus the near side.

This is an OLD tradition. Back into, if not before, the Crusades.

Reason being, as most people are right-handed, swords were worn on the left hip. With a sword on your left hip, it's possible to mount the horse from the left side since you're kicking your right leg over the horse to the offside. If you tried to mount the horse from the right side, with a sword on, you have to get the sword to swing up and over the horse along with your leg, without getting tangled.

In Europe and North America, unless a horse has been specifically broken to be mounted from either side, you should always assume you're to mount it from the nearside, the horse's left.

Since automobiles are, horseless carriages, and were predominately born out of carriagemakers' works, the nearside/offside terminology carried through....

FWIW....

[SafeAirOne]

Did you have a tail wind that day and on a downhill gradient?
Seems like a swift time trial.

Calm wind and perfectly flat ground--On windier days, I wouldn't be able to break 50mph on the way to work, but I'd hit 60 on the way home!

It's not polo terms, it's horsemenship terminology....

When you mount a horse, you approach and mount on the horse's left side, which is thus the near side.

I say, this is certainly the most convincing answer yet. Until I hear a "convincing-er" answer, I declare the left side of my 109 to be the near side and the right side to be the off-side!

[4flattires]

..I just went out and stencilled on my bonnet...Frontside. Just so I would know it was not the backside.

On the farside, I stencilled....Caution! Nearside driver.

Jeff

[daveb]

I recently posted a comment on the $65k ebay rover, noting the home-market headlight trims. If you look at a UK market series II or IIa, you wil notice that the headlamps sit on a shallow bump on the radiator panel (breakfast) rather than the 1" deep chrome ring that is common on US LR's.

And the change to headlamps in the wings was simultaneous in all markets. With the usual exceptions I am sure to account for use of existing parts stock as with all those types of changes.