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The other morning, a taxi making an illegal right turn on red prevented me from entering a crosswalk. There’s no term for that phenomenon, so I decided to coin one: I was “walkblocked.”

Living or working in cities, we often encounter events over and over that don’t have names. Here are a few that some of our contributors have named themselves, plus a few others that have grown common around our region.

Walkblock: v. The action of a motorist that blocks access to a crosswalk or causes a pedestrian to miss the walk sign. Example: “I got walkblocked by a bus blocking the intersection this afternoon.”

I also devised a name for what frequently happens when a cyclists bikes down the street with a bus.

Bikefrog: n. The travel pattern that occurs when a bus has a higher top speed but a cyclist has a higher average speed, resulting in the two passing each other in an alternating pattern for several blocks.

If you’ve ever cycled along a bus route, this has probably happened to you. I can generally cruise on my bike at around 16 miles per hour, which can’t compete with a bus running on the freeway. But on a local route, the bus stops every block or two.

Because the bus has a higher top speed than a cyclist, but a lower average speed (because of the stops), the bus passes the biker and then pulls into a stop, whereupon the cyclist passes the bus. This pattern then repeats, sometimes for quite a while, generally until the bus either encounters a long stretch with no boarding or alighting passengers or a stop with a bunch of people waiting.

BRT Creep: n. The tendency of planned Bus Rapid Transit projects to be sold as a gold-standard project, but then be built with fewer rapid transit aspects or even as just a specially-branded bus.

This term, which our own contributor Dan Malouff coined some time ago, has started spreading much more widely.

Zonely: adj. The state of an area of on-street parking reserved only for residents of the ward, thus excluding anyone else from parking there ever. Example: “Oh, there’s a spot! No, keep going, it’s zonely.

“Zonely” comes from Abagail Zenner’s husband Todd.

Dockblocked: v. When a bikeshare user can’t dock a bike at a chosen station because the station is full.

We didn’t coin this one, and we’re not sure who did, but it certainly happens to many of our contributors and, I’m sure, our readers, too.

A few years ago, Metro ran a set of ads on trains that fit into this category. I don’t remember all of them (perhaps some of you do, though).

Escaleftor: n. A person who stands on the left side of an escalator and prevents people from walking past.

Some other terms have caught on in recent years, after initially spreading elsewhere in the blogosphere.

Shoaling: v. When one cyclist skips ahead of another cyclist when the first is stopped at an intersection.

Salmoning: v. Riding a bicycle the wrong direction along a one-way bike lane.

Sneckdown: n Following a snowfall, the area of a street that remains covered in snow after passing cars have swept the travel lanes clear, and thus functions as a curb extension. Short for “snowy neckdown.”

Have you coined a term to describe something you experience in urban life? Let us know in the comments.

Tagged: language

Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington area since 2007. He has a Master’s in Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He lives in Dupont Circle. He’s a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and is an employee of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. His views are his own and do not represent those of his employer.