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I have heard terms like bikers, racers and car racers used for the people who drive quickly. But what are people called who drive slowly, or at normal speed, or very slowly (for old people who drive really slowly)?

Drivers cannot be use specifically for them as it denotes everybody.

So is there any particular term for these people?

David
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Waseem
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    The British TV programme 'Top Gear' has popularised the name 'Captain Slow'. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 15 '14 at 09:51
  • "Captain Slow" as in 'James May" yeah thats also good. – Waseem Mar 15 '14 at 10:51
  • Snails - but depending on purpose, kerb crawlers? – Leon Conrad Mar 15 '14 at 11:25
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    The term I hear most in the UK is "slowbies". I wouldn't recommend "Captain Slow" unless you know the person you are talking to is familiar with Top Gear. (Believe it or not I'd never heard of that one until today). – Pharap Mar 15 '14 at 17:02
  • Is there any particular english term so that we cannot relate these with the "snails" or "kerb crawlers". "Slowbies" again the term for everyone who is slow. – Waseem Mar 16 '14 at 13:51
  • My favourite is 'drag-arse'. – peterG Jun 17 '17 at 13:41
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    And the user who edited the question left this explanation note, which is public, "Translated into English. Especially slowly" Charming! I wasn't aware that the OP was written in a strange and foreign tongue. Talk about mutual respect . Americans and Brits too, I suspect, use "fast" and "slow" as adverbs, so not really a non-native speaker error. – Mari-Lou A Jun 17 '17 at 18:36
  • @peterG — And you are really suggesting the poster should use this expression? If you have an answer please follow SE recommendations and post it as such, so the poster can judge it by the score it attracts. Otherwise say nothing. – David Jun 17 '17 at 18:36
  • @Waseem — please follow SE guidelines and do not post answers in comments. This will allow your incorrect answer to be voted down. A "kerb crawler" is a term for a driver who drives slowly through a red-light district looking for prostitutes. – David Jun 17 '17 at 18:41
  • @David True - if I'd made this suggestion on ELL, I might have provided more context about its somewhat demotic nature. As regards making this an answer rather than a comment, I don't have citations or dictionary definitions to back it up, just my own experience of hearing others use the expression. – peterG Jun 17 '17 at 18:58
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    @David and before you can say "Jack Robinson", (a mere six hours later) destiny throws up this question on the active page: Walk slow vs. Walk slowly – Mari-Lou A Jun 18 '17 at 01:09
  • @Mari-LouA — The explanation of my edit was cryptic, but I did leave a clear comment to the author explaining it. I find your comment equally cryptic. All I did was tried to improve the question so that people with limited education or for whom English is not the first language would read standard English, as they would expect from this site. The question wasn't about the trend in usage of adjectives as adverbs (and posts on the subject do not interest me) but about an expression to describe something. Encouraging people to continue to write poorly does them a disservice. – David Jun 18 '17 at 11:54
  • @David you did indeed leave a comment, but a rather condescending and patronising one. Besides you are also mistaken, slow and fast are also adverbs, telling someone that the phrase "drive slow" is not English, is wrong. “Though slowly is the more common adverb and is certainly correct, slow is often just as good in adverbial sense. ….” In fact, two idioms illustrate that point: My watch runs slow. Take it slow. Neither of those would sound right to us if we changed “slow” to “slowly.”* Bryan A. Garner – Mari-Lou A Jun 18 '17 at 14:10
  • @Mari-LouA — The expression about Satan quoting from the bible comes to mind. – David Jun 18 '17 at 14:17
  • @David I thank you teaching me an idiom I did not know, I had to look that one up: The devil can quote Scripture for his own purpose I shall take it as a compliment, the devil is said to be sly and astute... By the way, the Bible is the title of a book, as such it should always be capitalised. – Mari-Lou A Jun 18 '17 at 14:28
  • @Mari-LouA — Re capitalization of "Bible". Agreed. Noticed that after it was too late to edit. I make spelling mistakes too. – David Jun 18 '17 at 14:45

3 Answers3

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"Sunday driver" is a term that might suit you.

d'alar'cop
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  • I never heard of "sunday driver" I read about this and yeah it is the term for me right now, but I need some more terms for these. Thanks for the answer – Waseem Mar 15 '14 at 09:41
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    Where I live (Netherlands) the term Sunday driver is used too, but it is primarily aimed at people who are inexperienced drivers (only drive to church on Sundays) and therefore drive either slow or erratically or a combination of both. Can also be used to indicate someone who doesn't anticipate (busy) traffic very well (because of a lack of experience under such road conditions). – Tonny Mar 15 '14 at 16:33
  • @Tonny I also search the meaning of this and I found the same thing thats why ask about more precise term. – Waseem Mar 16 '14 at 13:47
  • As we all know, links can break or rot over time, could you edit your answer, please? – Mari-Lou A May 24 '15 at 08:01
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    You do give a citation in support, but for those old enough to remember the Beatles it is also familiar in the context of: “She was a day tripper Sunday driver, yeah”. – David Jun 18 '17 at 12:01
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Poky driver does the trick I believe.

2. American English
doing things very slowly, especially in a way that is annoying:
I got behind some poky driver on the freeway.

Longman Dictionary

Mari-Lou A
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  • The downvote (not mine) is for not giving the definition, and a link, which I did for you. – Mari-Lou A May 24 '15 at 07:53
  • d'alar'cop's answer is only marginally better because it has a link, but as we know links can break or rot over time – Mari-Lou A May 24 '15 at 07:59
  • @Mari-Lou A This is not a regular thing that I do. I just came across this post, and thought I could be of some help (I gave reference in my original post I think, without links or direct definitions that is). Downvotes don't bother me. – Masoud-Ata May 24 '15 at 11:00
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In Singapore we called them road hogs, road hoggers and the act is described as road hogging.

Glorfindel
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