Talk:leadfoot

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Although the more common definition of 'leadfoot' is one who drives or accelerates quickly, the definition that I learned of, when I had Driver's Education in High School, is a driver with 'a foot made of lead' that doesn't compensate his throttle position for road conditions or terrain. According to the second definition, such a driver would be unlikely to slow down for fog or rain, would not speed up when traffic starts moving faster, would allow his vehicle to slow down going up a hill, and would even speed up (possibly to a dangerous point) when going down a hill. Such a driver was described as one of the 'bad driver' types in the class. At the time I heard this definition described in Driver's Ed class, I had believed that the 'fast driver' definition was the correct one. I was a bit confused when someone (typically in a movie or TV show) would say "Out of the way, LEADFOOT!" After all, a driver known for pushing the pedal to the floor wouldn't be 'in the way' would he? So the alternate "Driver's Ed Class" definition makes more sense in that context. Still, the 'quick driver' definition seems to be the more commonly used, so I added the "Driver's Ed Class" definition as the second, rather than the first.