Rolling Stops

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha. Amanda, calling from San Diego.

Hi, Amanda. Welcome to the program.

I was calling just because I always had a thought of what the saying California stop was.

I thought everybody used that to describe someone who does a rolling stop at a stop sign.

You know, they just kind of cruise through it a little bit.

So you mean not a stop?

Yes, yes, pretty much.

Like, I’ve always heard it called that. My parents are from Michigan. They call it that.

And I was at the store the other day, and the clerk was watching this guy get pulled over.

And I asked him, what did he do?

And he called it a Hollywood roll.

Mm—

A Hollywood roll.

Yeah, and it made me think, like, does every city and state, like, name it after themselves?

Or is that guy just weird?

And then I met someone again the other day, and I asked him.

And he’s from Indiana, and he called it a New York shuffle.

So I don’t know what to say.

Oh, a New York shuffle.

New York shuffle.

I didn’t have that one on my list.

So your question is, how many other names are there for this idea that you don’t actually stop at a stop sign?

You just slow down a little bit, look furtively both ways, and then roar through it, right?

Pretty much, yeah.

Looking in my works here, in my reference works, I count 11 other terms.

And the one that you gave me for the New York shuffle I’ve never heard before, that makes 12.

Woo-hoo!

And then there’s even an adjective related to this behavior at stop signs.

It’s called stop-tional.

Stop-tional.

Stop-tional?

It’s not a stop sign.

It’s stoptional.

It’s a suggestion.

So I’ve got California stop, California roll, Texas stop, Hollywood stop, Hollywood roll, Missouri stop, LA stop, Michigan stop, which is interesting because your parents are from Michigan and they didn’t use that.

Yeah, not at all.

Rhode Island roll, rolling stop, St. Louis stop, Jersey stop.

That’s actually, including New York shuffle is 13, but stop and roll tend to switch hands.

Did you have city stop in there?

City stop.

Never heard that one.

Yeah, I’ve heard that one.

How about that?

Yeah.

14 then.

So, yeah, stop and roll, change hands, and the place changes as well.

And some of it is hometown pride and misbehaving.

It’s the locals who call it the Hollywood, California, and so forth.

You’re talking about yourself and the people around you.

It’s not necessarily the next state over, although sometimes it is.

Yeah, that’s how we do it in California.

Yeah, so that’s why I was wondering if other states named it after themselves, if it was just something we did or what.

It’s particularly associated with California.

In the earliest records that we find from the late 1960s, early 1970s, it’s almost always a Hollywood stop or a California stop or California roll.

And it shows up in court cases in the early 1970s as well, where it becomes a thing that people discuss when there’s some horrific accident and somebody dies.

And so it becomes spread mostly through fiction and films.

And the rest of the country either comes up with their own name for it or they just take the California name and switch it.

Because pretty much everywhere I’ve ever driven around the whole country, people don’t really stop at stop signs.

That’s interesting. Thank you.

I bet there’s some more terms for this, and we’ll throw the word out to everybody listening.

What do they call this non-stop stop where you are?

The California roll, the California stop, the Michigan roll, something like that?

I think I ordered this at the sushi restaurant the other night.

The California roll, right.

Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or tell us about an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Amanda, drive carefully.

Yes, please.

And do stop.

I don’t want to read about you in the papers.

Yeah.

All right.

Just for good stuff.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye, guys.

Thank you.

Bye.

Call us with your questions about language, 877-929-9673, or send them an email to words at waywordradio.org.