Informal term for 'parallel park'?

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Mehrgan

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Hi there,
Is there any informal term for 'parallel park' as a verb in BrE? Is there any page where I can get the terms used in driving, especially the ones used in everyday English?



Many thanks, indeed!
 

emsr2d2

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Hi there,
Is there any informal term for 'parallel park' as a verb in BrE? Is there any page where I can get the terms used in driving, especially the ones used in everyday English?



Many thanks, indeed!

It's "parallel parking" as a noun or "to parallel park" as a verb. I don't know another way of saying it, informal or otherwise.

This might help.
 

bhaisahab

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Do you mean "to double-park"?
 

emsr2d2

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In case the OP doesn't know the difference:

Parallel parking = you drive your car until it is parallel to another car in the road but which has a parking space behind it. You then reverse the car into the parking space, manoeuvring it backwards and left/right (depending on which side of the road you are parking on) at the same time until you are in the parking space. You should now be parallel to the kerb and can stop the car and go about your business. :-D

Double parking = you stop your car immediately next to another parked car and then leave it there. This is illegal. It blocks the road and means that the other parked car can't drive away. :-(
 

Ouisch

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Oy. Parallel parking. It's more prominent in the UK, especially in highly populated cities, because there isn't much vacant land available. So drivers must parallel park - pull their vehicle into a parking space alongside a curb (ooops, "kerb" ;-) ) in a narrow space between other parked cars. I grew up and still reside in the Midwestern US, where the majority of businesses have parking lots ("car parks" in the UK) and you have plenty of room to maneuver into a parking space. In fact, when I took my driving test to get my license 'way back when, the examiner didn't bother to have me parallel park as part of my road test - "Unless you're in downtown Detroit, where else would you need to parallel park?" he shrugged. Imagine my dismay the first time I rented a car in England and discovered that most of London and the outer-most boroughs had only parallel parking available for restaurants, B & Bs, etc. (aside from the few businesses that had parking garages available but which charged more by the day than I pay on my monthly mortgage ;-)). It was literally a crash course in parallel parking for me, as I had to pay for several crushed wheel covers when I scraped against the curb (kerb) while trying to avoid smacking into the cars in front and back of me. :-?
 

5jj

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Thank you, but indeed I meant "parallel parking". Such a bother it is! :)
It's sometimes referred to as 'reverse park(ing)'. However, that expression can also be used for reversing into a space between two cars in a car park, when you end up parallel to the cars next to you - not the same thing. What emsr2d2 described is one of the things that may be, but does not have to be, tested in the British driving test. What I have added is not part of the test.
 

emsr2d2

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Ah, yes, reverse parking! Of course. That's what parallel parking is called in the driving test.

As far as I know, to pass your driving test in the UK, you still have to complete two out of three possible manoeuvres as well as driving safely:

1) Reverse parking
2) Reversing round a corner
3) Three-point turn (or rather "changing the direction of the car by 180 degrees using forward and reverse gears"!)
 

Hedwig

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I didn't know my worst driving nightmare was called 'parallel parking'. In Argentina, too, it's imperative to master it. For some reason (the gods smiled upon me that day) when I sat my first driving test I did it impeccably in three manoeuvres. Never again in my life. Now, I ask you, who cares if I do it in twenty manoeuvres if the result is fine?!!!!!

(I apologise for the excessive punctuation.)
 

Hedwig

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Thanks, 5jj. Lovely, with all the animated cartoons and explanations. I'll keep it in Favourites for the next time I sit a driving test. :)

May I add, though, that the parallel parking test over there is a piece of cake. Two car lengths is heaven. In B.A. they give you one car lenght plus one metre*. And mind that you park exactly 20 cm from the kerb. Honestly, that's next to impossible for clumsy** people like me. :cry:

* about three and a half ft.
** There ought to be one of those xxx-impaired words for this We clumsy have our dignity, too.
 
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