Why Are We Called Freds?

[email hidden] wrote in news:2beij0hlok1see4qj5ecu83fdjme6j97et@
4ax.com:

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Flintstone

On Sat, 04 Sep 2004 05:30:38 +0000, Ken <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] wrote in news:2beij0hlok1see4qj5ecu83fdjme6j97et@
4ax.com:

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Flintstone

Dear Ken,

Ah, the stone wheels?

Carl Fogel

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

'Cuz Wilbur is already reserved for the clueless who ride on the wrong side
of the road.

Bob C.

What kind of rider are you that you are called "Fred" in the first place?
Does that make me a "Fred" for asking?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

Perhaps a term of derision. ISTR 'herman' and 'pancho' and such from my
childhood (Santa Clara, '66)

Do you self-identify or have you been called a 'fred'. Recasting the
premise as 'Why are some riders called Fred' may be more informative. The
'like me' may be bathetic.

There is, of course, homophonic phred.org related to cycling and with an
explanation of its name. It also relates to the past and divides VietNam era
from contemporary events.

Your favorite 'foil' may be a bit freddish but not you.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

There's the unconvincing but scholarly-looking reply that appeared on
rbr some time back (link below, parental guidance urged for language):
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=6s7406%247qv%243%40hplms2.hpl.hp.com

-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Our catalogue of track equipment: online since 1996.
http://www.businesscycles.com

Rhesus Monkey said:

What kind of rider are you that you are called "Fred" in the first place?
Does that make me a "Fred" for asking?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

Dear Lab Test,

Hi, Fred!

(If we have to ask . . .)

Actually, I ride alone except for friends who find
rec.bicycles.tech as interesting as we'd find
rec.knittingneedles.tech (carbon or titanium?), so this is
the first time that I've enjoyed the nickname, deserved or
otherwise.

Tone of voice probably determines what the word means.

Despite the plausible Flintstones theroy, the origin is
probably as tangled as hoosegow, jug, and juzgado.

Fred Fogel

Rhesus Monkey said:

What kind of rider are you that you are called "Fred" in the first place?
Does that make me a "Fred" for asking?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

Dear Lab Test,

Hi, Fred!

(If we have to ask . . .)

Actually, I ride alone except for friends who find
rec.bicycles.tech as interesting as we'd find
rec.knittingneedles.tech (carbon or titanium?), so this is
the first time that I've enjoyed the nickname, deserved or
otherwise.

Tone of voice probably determines what the word means.

Despite the plausible Flintstones theroy, the origin is
probably as tangled as hoosegow, jug, and juzgado.

Fred Fogel

John Dacey said:

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

There's the unconvincing but scholarly-looking reply that appeared on
rbr some time back (link below, parental guidance urged for language):
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=6s7406%247qv%243%40hplms2.hpl.hp.com

-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Our catalogue of track equipment: online since 1996.
http://www.businesscycles.com

Dear John,

I enjoyed Jobst's theory that FRED arose from railroad
workers who lost their comfortable caboose jobs to an
automated Rear End Device and placed the obvious F in front
of the initials RED.

So a FRED would indeed be a trailing object of contempt and
could transfer from railroading to bicycling.

Unfortunately, the link between a caboose replacement known
only to a tiny group of laid-off railroad workers and the
larger but still tiny recreational bicycling community may
well be what's called a back-formation, the etymologist's
phrase for an awfully good story that fits known facts.

Often the origin of such slang is lost in the mists of time.
No one on earth knows why my group of friends from childhood
still greets each other with the affectionate private insult
"McCoy!" Even we who use the mystifying namet have no idea
where it came from--we just use it.

Carl Fogel

Doug Huffman said:

There is, of course, homophonic phred.org related to cycling

We don't appreciate homophones here. Please take your homophonia to
another newsgroup.

Steve-o said:

Doug Huffman said:

There is, of course, homophonic phred.org related to cycling

We don't appreciate homophones here. Please take your homophonia to
another newsgroup.

Deer Steve,

(Sorry, but I dare not write "Dear Steve" for fear of being
misunderstood.)

There's no need to be a-phred of homophones.

Carl Fogel

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip)may well be what's called a
back-formation, the etymologist's phrase for an awfully good story that
fits known facts.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You mean the story may be apocryfred?

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

I thought Freds were pretentious wannabes who bought all the best
equipment to look good, but didn't ride very much or very well. Doesn't
sound like you, from what I have seen of your posts. I always assumed
the name was used because it brings to mind uninteresting, middle-aged,
middle class men with disposable income, but little natural athletic
ability. But then there are the Barney's of the MTB world. Fred and
Barney. Coincidence or design?

SuperSlinky <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I thought Freds were pretentious wannabes who bought all the best
equipment to look good, but didn't ride very much or very well.

The folks you refer to are poseurs not Freds.

I remember "Fred" refering to someone who rode their bike and just
didn't care what anyone thought.

To me the best example of Fredness was the time I repaired a Fred's
bike. He looked over his bill and noticed 2 x $.35 clips. He asked
what they were. I pointed out 3 clips we installed to hold the
cables down. He said he didn't want them and asked us to remove
them and subtract it from his bill; he had some electrical tape
at home that he'd use to hold them down. He didn't care if we
thought he was a cheapskate or if his bike looked amateur; he had
a cheaper solution.

Another fred customer of mine rode an old Free Spirit bike but was
putting ~200 miles/week on it. We kept him going using cheap or
used parts for quite a while always telling him that his bike just
wasn't designed for such heavy use. Finally the frame seperated so
he came in to buy a new bike from us. We tried to steer him toward
a quality bike but he insisted on a bottom of the line bike with
heavy steel rims. It had a lifetime waranty and no doubt he kept
his receipt so I wonder how many replacement frames he received in
the 20 or so years since I sold it to him.

Most Freds just rode for transportation but a few would show up on
group rides, often on cheap bikes with improvised equipment like
helmets fashioned from construction hard hats with holes for
ventilation or repairs completed with bailing wire, duct tape,
or nylon cable ties. Somehow Freds managed to enjoy the rides more than
most of the cyclists who invested $thousands on their bike and gear.

While we made fun of Freds we all had a quiet admiration for them.
Freds actually rode their bikes. Since their bicycle was most Fred's
transportation we would try to do their repairs while they waited or
we would stay late to get their bike done on-time. Poseurs rarely got
such preferential treatment even though they spent a lot more money.

Before I owned a car I had a bike that looked very Fred. It had folding
wire baskets and was assembled from scrounged parts. It looked like
Hell but it actually rode pretty well even with the baskets. I was
racing back then so I was in good shape so one of my favorite activities
was chasing down a poseur then after catching them turing and saying
"nice day for a ride, eh?" them leaving them. Ah yes, embrace your
inner Fred.
--
Bruce Jackson

SuperSlinky said:

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Etymology, please. Why are riders like me called Freds?

Fred Fogel

I thought Freds were pretentious wannabes who bought all the best
equipment to look good, but didn't ride very much or very well. Doesn't
sound like you, from what I have seen of your posts.

Two words: Fury RoadMaster. (The rest of you simply aren't
pretentious enough to aspire to such heights of glory.)

Quoted message said:

I always assumed
the name was used because it brings to mind uninteresting, middle-aged,
middle class men with disposable income, but little natural athletic
ability.

Sounds like the poster describing me down at the post
office.

Quoted message said:

But then there are the Barney's of the MTB world. Fred and
Barney. Coincidence or design?

Interesting! I surmise that a Barney is not the most gifted
off-road rider.

Unbelievably, the two names may be coincidence, or at least
subconscious.

Long ago, the larger of two new basset puppies obviously
demanded to be named Barney (or so I was told in tones
dripping with feminine pity)

His brother's name, however, was not so easily determined.

Reluctantly, the dog-naming committee settled uneasily on
"Fred" and informed me of her decision, so there we were
with Barney and Fred.

It was several months before someone casually reversed the
order--"Fred and Barney"--and explained her choice.

Fred Fogel

Bruce Jackson said...

Quoted message said:

The folks you refer to are poseurs not Freds.

Hmm. It seems there are as many definitions of Fred as their are people
to define it. Just dredged this up on the Net:

http://www.adventurecorps.com/way/freds.html

So far we've got pretentious wannabees, loveable cheapskates, and
obnoxious jerks as candidates. Will the real Fred please stand up? I
have to admit that some of the definitions made me a little nervous.
Gulp...I just bought a pair of Oakleys and wore them while at a car
show. I felt happy when I got my bike below 18 lbs. Even spent a little
extra money to get it there. I guess I'll have to atone for my sins by
touring Alaska on a fixie in January.

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Two words: Fury RoadMaster. (The rest of you simply aren't
pretentious enough to aspire to such heights of glory.)

I have seen the Roadmaster progress reports. I have to admit, yours
seems better than I gave them credit for.

Quoted message said:

Interesting! I surmise that a Barney is not the most gifted
off-road rider.

You surmise correctly. But skill is a relative thing. I can ride circles
around 99% of the population at large, but in the right group, I may
easily be the slowest one.

Quoted message said:

Unbelievably, the two names may be coincidence, or at least
subconscious.

Probably not coincidence. I'm sure the overbearing jerks who dreamed up
these insults had a good laugh a the pairing of the names. Evidently the
labels are used in other circles as well, such as skiing and surfing.

SuperSlinky <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Probably not coincidence. I'm sure the overbearing jerks who dreamed up
these insults had a good laugh a the pairing of the names. Evidently the
labels are used in other circles as well, such as skiing and surfing.

There is another famous Barney in our collective consciousness. Barney
Fife from the Andy Griffith Show. I've heard many people both in and
out of law enforcement refer to a certain type of policeman as a "Barney."
There could be some cross-polination between police and cycling.

My best Barney story involves a gal I knew who was visiting her retired
folks in a small Texas town on Thanksgiving. Due to more guests than
they were expecting they sent her off to pick up a few things at the
nearby Braums. She gets pulled over by a cop; "license and registration
ma'am" he says tersely. He asks her if she knows why he pulled her over
and she tells him she has no idea. It seems our officer makes a practice
of pulling over out-of-towners not knowing that she used to live there.
He informs her that he had been following her for a while and that she
is lucky she didn't kill anyone since she just ran 3 red lights. She
asks the officer how that is possible since she started out on Washington
street and there is only one traffic light between there and here and the
only red light run was the one he just ran to catch up with her to pull
her over. Flustered the officer said, "ok, I'll just give you a warning
this time but please try to be more careful."
--
Bruce Jackson

Bruce Jackson said...

Quoted message said:

There is another famous Barney in our collective consciousness. Barney
Fife from the Andy Griffith Show. I've heard many people both in and
out of law enforcement refer to a certain type of policeman as a "Barney."
There could be some cross-polination between police and cycling.

My best Barney story involves a gal I knew who was visiting her retired
folks in a small Texas town on Thanksgiving. Due to more guests than
they were expecting they sent her off to pick up a few things at the
nearby Braums. She gets pulled over by a cop; "license and registration
ma'am" he says tersely. He asks her if she knows why he pulled her over
and she tells him she has no idea. It seems our officer makes a practice
of pulling over out-of-towners not knowing that she used to live there.
He informs her that he had been following her for a while and that she
is lucky she didn't kill anyone since she just ran 3 red lights. She
asks the officer how that is possible since she started out on Washington
street and there is only one traffic light between there and here and the
only red light run was the one he just ran to catch up with her to pull
her over. Flustered the officer said, "ok, I'll just give you a warning
this time but please try to be more careful."
--
Bruce Jackson

Holy cow, that sounds like Barney possessed by Satan.