Thread: Jaywalking

Saludos!!

I can't help Ludmila with the Spanish legal term but jaywalking (which I understand is of U.S. origen) is a term used to describe the crossing of a street "against existing law or regulation", i.e., it is NOT jaywalking if there is no law against it. Moreover, jaywalking can occur any point on a street, including the corners, that might have a marked crosswalk if the pedestrian disobeys a "Don't Walk" or a red traffic light signal.

Here is an interesting link: Origin of the Term Jaywalking

According to this article:[I] Contrary to popular belief, the term jaywalking does not derive from the shape of the letter “J” (referencing the path a jaywalker might travel when crossing a road). Rather, it comes from the fact that “Jay” used to be a generic term for someone who was an idiot, dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or simpleton. More precisely, it was once a common term for “country bumpkins” or “hicks”, usually seen incorrectly as inherently stupid by “city” folk.

Thus, to “Jay walk” was to be stupid by crossing the street in an unsafe place or way, or some country person visiting the city who wasn’t used to the rules of the road for pedestrians in an urban environment, so would attempt to cross or walk in the streets anywhere. As it stated in the January 25, 1937 New York Times, “In many streets like Oxford Street, for instance, the jaywalker wanders complacently in the very middle of the roadway as if it was a country lane.”

Well, Gentle, we pretty much know all about it in English now but have we answered Ludmila's question yet?

She asked for the "legal" term in Spanish. Surely there must be a Spanish term for illegally crossing the street?