@realSiegfried and @MarkBrigham mentioned a question by @Trailanderror

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

A5b. I pointed out at my first Bicycle and Safety Committee decades ago, that "Bicycle" should replace most uses of "Cycle" and "Bike" because people generally thought of motorcycle with those terms. I found out later some people in the Cycling club weren't too happy about my comment.

#BikeNite

@realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite A5. I don't have a great answer. "People riding bikes" or similar is probably what I use the most but it is a lot more syllables. So "person who rides a bike"?

It's weird to hear how you are perceived sometimes. There's a protected lane I sometimes ride and there are often people walking in it. I try to be as polite as possible while letting them know I'm riding, which usually involves a bell ding or a "hello".. or if in the evening, they might see a headlight.

Usually if they're trying to get someone else out of the way, they say "watch out, biker" or "watch out, bike". Feels a little weird to be referred to as the object you are riding on but I guess I get it, and I'd refer to a car the same way.

#BikeNite

@cainmark @ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite I've definitely found that with "bike", but mostly online. I don't know if I've ever heard "cycle" refer to motorcycles before.

@ascentale @realSiegfried @bikenite @ai6yr @Trailanderror I tend to ride No Lycra Events.

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite a5. I don't often talk about myself. I try to avoid cyclist, but still fall back to that a fair bit. Person who cycles or bike commuter or bike rider. I will say I'm pretty into riding, bicycles, and how they can make cities better.
#bikenite

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite #BikeNite A5. Cyclist or bicyclist or bicycle rider.

I don't usually get more specific, unless it's necessary. But, in conversation, I'm actually more likely to say something like, "I ride a bicycle," or, "I've been car-free for over 4.5 years, so far."

Only in bike circles will I feel it necessary to say, "I am a transportation cyclist," to distinguish myself from recreational cyclists, as someone who rides every day, year round.

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

A5. In Japan, a bike is a motorbike, aka a scooter. So I shy away from the ambiguous "biker" and go with "cyclist." In Japanese though it would be [person who] rides a bicycle.

#BikeNite

#BikeBite A5: I'm a cyclist.

I knew someone who called people on bikes "bikists". He also used the word "campist"...

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

@lopta @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite @ascentale I had a Tshirt made that says COOL on the front, and on the back it says
Certified Official Old Lady

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite A5: I used to always say “biker”, but these days that connotes someone on a motorcycle, so I usually say cyclist.

@ascentale @grammasaurus @lopta @bikenite @realSiegfried @Trailanderror I align more with the SOTS (Society of Three Speeds)

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

A5. I call myself a cyclist.

When referring to others, I prefer 'a person on a bike' which I find less tribal and emphasises it's just a choice of transport. Especially if the conversation is tending to treat everyone that rides a bike as being the same.

#BikeNite #Cycling

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite #BikeNite #A5 Simply a person who bikes.

Very quickly after we began devoting ourselves to bike advocacy, in 2009, we saw the value in referring to “people who bike” rather than cyclists or bicyclists.

Although we occasionally still use one of the latter terms, e.g., for word count or similar reasons, we make a conscious effort not to.

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite A5. Just a rider. I’ve ridden, bikes, skateboards, trains, probably a horse or a pony once upon a time. I just go for a ride, people seem to know the bigger picture. #BikeNite

@ascentale @realSiegfried@troet.cafe @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

I'm a "cyclist" or "disabled cyclist" depending on how much information I need to convey. I very much object to the reactionary framing that we must break it down to "people riding bikes" in order to make car-centric folks remember our humanity. If they do not acknowledge my humanity, they have bigger problems than a name change is going to address. In fact, we have seen over & over that hegemons will just shift to

#BikeNite

@ascentale @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite using the new term as an insult or other target of hatred as those they exercise their bigotry towards keep trying to react to their hate with a name change.

#BikeNite

@cainmark @ascentale @realSiegfried@troet.cafe @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite I like using "cycle" and shifted to it several years ago because we have a big problem in infrastructure & advocacy of only taking upright bikes into account. Some ride less than 2 wheels, some more. And we need paths and elevators and racks, etc that take trikes and quads and handcycles into account.

"Bicycle" & "bike" encode 2 in there.

It hasn't been a totally easy language shift for me, but I'm mostly there #BikeNite

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite A5 - cyclist and commuter (even though this doesn’t just mean on bikes)

#bikenite

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite I’m a “biker”

@ascentale @realSiegfried @MarkBrigham @Trailanderror @bikenite

A5

#bikenite

Cyclist

Answering this without reading other replies in order to be my gut reaction rather than on the "one hand/on the other hand/I am running out of hands" sort of thing