[OT] Dutch Reach [was Re: Where has the practice of sending screen shots as source code come from?]

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, 30 Jan 2018 05:48:15 -0800, Rustom Mody wrote:

[...]
>> Ah, yes, the Dutch Reach. That would be like the French Pox (which
>> isn't French), the Spanish Flu (that didn't start in Spain), the
>> Jerusalem artichoke (which is neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem),
>> and the turkey (the bird, which has nothing to do with Turkey, the
>> country).
>> 
>> This technique is neither taught nor commonly used used by the Dutch:
>> apparently some Americans decided that because the Netherlands has a
>> lot of cyclists, they'll say its Dutch.
> 
> reference please

The onus should be on those who claim that the technique actually is used 
by the Dutch. Anecdotally, the Dutch people I've spoken to on the 
Internet had no idea that this technique even existed.

(I happened to know about this because this week's "QI" on the BBC 
happened to mention it, and that show is very popular among the Dutch. 
There's been quite a number of comments on Reddit from Dutch people 
complaining about the QI Elves' lack of fact checking regarding this, as 
well as machine vision.)

Even the organisation who invented the term acknowledge that lots of 
people, *especially* Dutch people, take issue with their claim that the 
technique is required by Dutch law, is taught in Dutch schools, and is 
routinely practiced by the Dutch.

Their answer? To paraphrase their rambling explanation here:

https://www.dutchreach.org/is-the-dutch-reach-really-dutch/

    Trust us, it was required by NL law decades ago but isn't
    any longer now, it was never given a name and so even though
    it is really commonplace and everyone in NL does it, nobody
    remembers doing it. And besides, its only young Dutch people
    who say that nobody uses this technique there, what do they
    know? Old people use it all the time.

(Not a direct quote.)

Yeah, colour me skeptical that this actually ever was a commonplace 
practice in the NL, or anywhere else for that matter.

There's an easy way to find out whether this is commonplace in the NLs. 
Look at Dutch movies and television. How do the characters open their car 
doors?

By the way, anyone who actually has a car: I encourage you to sit in 
driver's seat of your car and try out this "Dutch Reach" maneuver for 
yourself. If you do, you will probably have the same experience that I 
did when I tried it:

It is awkward and clumsy to reach across and open the door with your 
opposite hand, but most importantly, doing so does NOT cause your upper 
body to twist around enough to automatically look behind the car for on-
coming cyclists. I estimate that my head and upper torso rotated no more 
than about 30 degree from "straight ahead".

This effectively and completely undermines the supposed claim that this 
technique makes it *automatic* to look behind you for on-coming cyclists. 
That simply isn't the case. Whether you use the arm closest or furthest 
from the door, you still need to make a conscious effort to either look 
over your shoulder (where your view will be obstructed by the car pillar 
by the door), or consciously check your side mirror.

Guess which one is both easier and more effective?


-- 
Steve