History of Jaywalker

You can see the sign "No Jaywalking" or "No Jaywalker" on the street to remind pedestrians not to cross the road or violate the traffic law. Do you want to know why do we call those violator Jaywalker?

The word jay is used to call person from up country who just came to the big city.

This person usually do something strange in the city people eyes such as cross the street in a prohibited area etc.

Therefore, jaywalker is an analogy of person who does something city people don't do. "No Jaywalker" sign is to remind people not to do something strange that the others don't do which, in turn, violates the law.

Actually, the real meaning of Jay is a type of birds. They are so colorful but look silly and clumsy. That's why we use the word jay to ironically call people who just come from up country.

Learning Part

Pedestrian = People on sidewalk

Analogy = A comparison to something similarly

Clumsy = Awkward, lacking pysical condition

Ironically = Adv. for ironic means compare something to somethingelse in a negative or funny way.

Some sources from http://www.thefreedictionary.com

*Each word can have more than one meaning. The meaning here is just to favor the article

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