[quote]A squid is an irresponsible motorcyclist. The term is derogatory and common among motorcyclists in North America and is generally associated with a new or reckless motorcyclist seen riding erratically and/or beyond his or her capabilities, often without appropriate riding gear. The origin of the word is varyingly attributed: [ul][*]A contraction of: [ul][*]"Squirrely" and "kid" (possibly taken from California surfing culture), or[*]"Squished" and "kid", or[*]"Squished" and "idiot"[/ul][*]An acronym for: [ul][*]"Stupidly Quick, Underdressed, Ignorant and Dangerous", or[*]"Stupidly Quick, Underdressed and Imminently Dead"[/ul] [/ul] Note: both of these are likely to be backronyms [ul][*]Derivative of U.S. military culture: [ul][*]Newly-inducted sailors based in San Diego in the '60s would frequently buy an inexpensive two-stroke motorcyle for transportation while on shore, whether they'd ever ridden before or not. So, there were large numbers of unprotected, inexperienced "marine life" squirting through traffic in a hurry and leaving a trail of black "ink" (smoke) behind them.[*]"Squid" was also a common derogatory term for sailors: [ul][*]Recent inductees were called "squids" by more senior sailors, and[*]All sailors were called "squids" by Marines[/ul] [/ul][*]Based on similarity between the way a "squid" rides and an actual squid swims. [ul][*]Squids can appear unable to change direction while swimming without first coming to a near complete stop. However, once the squid does stop and change directions, it can very quickly accelerate back to its regular swimming speed. Beginning motorcyclists commonly have trouble negotiating turns, and must slow down to unnecessarily slow speed, while at the same time have a tendency to ride very fast on the straight sections of the road.[/ul] [/ul] Often young, squids are identified by their reckless abandon (speeding, wheelies, stoppies etc.) and by their inappropriate attire (shorts, backwards ball caps, flip flops, wifebeater T-shirt, etc). Such a rider eschews all or most of the protective gear worn by many riders (helmet, gloves, leather jacket, riding pants, and boots) and the social and legal norms of riding behaviour, and as such is looked upon with derision by experienced motorcyclists, who also refer to them as "organ donors", "Zip-Splats", "a Stillie", "Skin Crayons", "Sausage Creatures"<1> and "soon-to-be-ex-motorcycli

 

Oh boy [sm=boosign.gif]...hate it when threads start to turn ugly.

 

you sure do get frustrarted easy.. if you cant handle a curt resposne such as "i need you to use the search function" then really whats the point of you being here? learn to relax and not take everything online so seriously... and im always up for making friends with anyone but id rather help somone to find the answers on their own instead of handing someone the answers .. which in case my inital response to your question is still valid. if you dont wanna be friends thats cool , but when you stop posting afterwhile .. ill still be here helping out all the other memebers .. have a wonderful day

 

i think this thread started ugly...

 

On a positive note, I feel great about myself as a motorcyclist, having read the list posted. I only got one thing squiddish, and that's the steering dampener on my street bike (HESD). Soooo, do I remove it or go to the track? Pax,G.

 

Yeah I find nothing squidish about a stearing damper for a street bike. Odviously Honda seems to agree with me. I can almost garantee every single one of us has something on that list that they have done. Or maybe even will do.

 

According to that list we are all squids.....

 

O MY GOD!!!!! HE'S IN MY HEAD!!!! GET HIM OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Huh huh. I used reverse logic against him. hahahaha.

 

Jeez, I thought we were done being jackasses on this thread.


Hey thanks to all who posted to the thread with the abundant informative and often funny input. I appreciate it all.

 

DER? Serch? Wate... I'm colege edukated and I now haw to use te serch featre.