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Comment by ajcp | Hacker News Reader

I live downtown PHX (Roosevelt Row) and beyond riding in them I MUCH prefer them driving around on the streets than actual human drivers. There isn't a day goes by that I don't see drivers make up 4-way stops, disregard the 4-way stops, flip a youey in the middle of an intersection, etc. Contrast that to the ever predictable Weymo, just quietly going about their little self-driving existence.

Only problem I've seen with them is people don't realize that just because you wave them through doesn't mean they will proceed. If a Waymo sees a human on the corner that looks like they will cross it will stop and wait until the heat-death of the universe for them to cross.

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I have never tried to spell the phrase "flip a youey" before.

It might be the only word I use that I have never considered spelling, so I am grateful that you included it your comment.

That said, I think you are wrong and it should be "uey", "uie," "u-ie," or any other spelling that emphasizes the "u" after which the term is named.

Also "I do not know the answer but I am sure you are wrong" is the most internetish comment I've ever made, so that's two striking experiences for me today.

Maybe "U-ey" or "U-ee"?

https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/tsvbh2y

> U-ie n.

> also U, U-ee, U-ey, U-turn, youie

> (orig. Aus.) a U-turn; thus chuck/bang a U-ie, to make a U-turn.

always been partial to "flip a bitch"

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flip_a_bitch

Thankfully this solves the spelling ambiguity!

If you believe the NYT crossword, it's spelled in whatever way gives you the right vowels on the right place ;)

But yeah, u-turn, not you-turn.

> I have never tried to spell the phrase "flip a youey" before.

As a former Scripps spelling bee contestant, I've developed a low-grade allergy to commonplace onomotopeic words with no obvious, agreed-upon spelling. Recently I struggled with zhuzh (which has the bonus terror of having an alternate spelling, 'zhoosh') - but I commend OP for having chosen a phonetically parseable spelling over one of your (arguably more appropriate) choices, as I suspect it would have taken a lot longer to divine meaning from.

*onomatopoeic

Ironic.

I thought it was onomatopoetic?

I had always imagined that word to be spelled "jouerge", a variation on the French verb "jouer: to play" mixed with some element of "bourgeois: in the manner of the middle class".

My etymology makes sense. You can even extend it to the "jouergeois" if you need to describe middle-class foodies.

In this case I am definitely wrong and I blame Canada.

Hahahaha! So good of you to call that out because I had never seen the word written out before either and literally tried every form you suggested and more (you-ie, u-ee, uy, etc). To be honest I settled on 'youey' not because it was the one I thought was correct, rather it was the one I thought most people would understand.

I also toyed with just putting "flip a bitch" but figured some might find that problematic as I'm not entirely sure of it's etymology...

>they will cross it will stop and wait until the heat-death of the universe for them to cross.

There's something adorable and HHGTG about that whole thing! Reminds me of the robotic Star Liner that refused to take off because of the peanuts hadn't been delivered thus its checklist was incomplete. It had waited eons as its passengers withered to corpses securely locked into the cabin only stating that it was 'statistically likely a new civilisation with peanut packages will arise on this planet'.

Lemon-scented paper napkins, IIRC (I hadn't recalled corrected, so I updated it). Also Marvin spent ~millions of years in the car park for the Restaurant at the End of the Universe: ""The first ten-million years were the worst. And the second ten-million - they were the worst too… The third ten-million, I didn’t enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline. "

I deleted the Marvin bit as I was worried I was rambling! And yes it was the wipes, thanks for the correction!

It's funny because for some reason they definitely do feel adorable and polite. I know we shouldn't actively anthropomorphize them, but it's just the feeling you get when you see them go about their polite little way, adorably plotting our downfall.

Their first cars were even more anthropomorphic: https://blog.waymo.com/2019/08/from-post-it-note-to-prototyp...

> If a Waymo sees a human on the corner that looks like they will cross it will stop and wait until the heat-death of the universe for them to cross.

I've had humans do this, when I had no intention of crossing the street because I was just standing at the corner waiting to meet somebody. At least the humans give up after a few seconds, with exacerbated expressions like I'm the one who did something wrong. It would be pretty funny to see a robot car sit there for minutes.

I do this all the time as a walker too! But I try to step away from the curb and signal clear dis-intent. That's bc when I'm driving the neccesary bias is to assume that all pedestrians could be erratic and go into the street at anytime. It's neccesary because even if it's only 10% you can't accept any errors.

In other words, I'm trying to politely set the groundwork to say I think you are wrong if we assume having pedestrians signal clear dis-intent to cross is a reasonable requirement. Of course, the drivers are also wrong to be exasperated with you so I do think in a sense both parties are wrong :D.)

The times it's happened to me, I was leaning up against a lamp post or telephone pole. Most drivers don't get confused, but some of the time somebody does. If I actually intend to cross, I stand up straight and attentive on the curb.

My wife swears up and down she witnessed someone wave a driverless car (maybe a Cruise?) through an intersection in the Sunset.

Yes, Cruise cars have enough pose/gesture recognition for this. It’s needed for road construction with flaggers.

Are you Australian originally maybe ? :)

Waymo feature request: self-driving car waiting for a pedestrian for period of time, it screams "fool, I'm about to drive, so if you step in front of me, I'm driving right through your dumbass". Needs some little robot hands for deaf people. For those who simply aren't looking, it should use a water pistol.

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