"Overland" is a really dumb word.

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 06/23/2015 at 16:19 • Filed to: unpopular opinions

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I seriously cringe every time I see it mentioned here. I mean, the whole concept is awesome and I’d love to get into it, but that word.... it just sounds so douchey, and I’m not sure why. It’s also just stupid; sailing isn’t called “oversea” and flying isn’t called “oversky.” Why not just... you know... call it off-roading? Why does it need a new name when it already has a better one?

TheHondaBro > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:21

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#HotTake

Ash78, voting early and often > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:22

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Are you overnighting in the Hamptons Friday? I’m thinking about overwintering there, but Muffy misses the city too much.

I blame German, personally.

Patrick Nichols > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:23

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I could be totally wrong here but I think it’s because for the most part they do use roads, they just happen to be dirt and harder than the average econobox could do.

Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:25

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Sometimes sounding superior/douchy can be better. It is powered by you being more powerful, better than anything else, conquering things not meant to be conquered. For me overland is one of those words in the automotive world that we must be proud of, we just beat nature and nature is the greatest “villain” to be defeated.

Rainbow > Patrick Nichols 06/23/2015 at 16:25

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Maybe, but still. It could at least have a better name. It doesn’t sound like any thought went into it, and that strong O sound at the beginning makes it sound kind of pretentious, I think.

RallyWrench > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:25

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Willys-Overland would like a word with you.

WiscoProud > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:26

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I think people have adopted it since “off-roading” conjures images of bro trucks blasting through mud holes. Another analogy would be “rock crawling”. Does it need its own term? I would say yes, since its materially different than mudding or trail riding.

"Overlanding" does sound a touch pretentious though.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:27

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When flying, one is not traveling *over* the sky. When one is traveling “overseas”, one is, in fact, traveling over at least one sea. While that has become a very nebulous noun, it’s identical in construction. When taking into account meanings of “land” that encompass specifically unroaded or earthy expanse, “overland” is very nearly the perfect word. Being a little more Victorian than some other words is a terrible criticism.

StoneCold > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:27

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I now want a spaceship game called “Oversky”

Berang > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:31

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I’m trying to think of a better word. Like driving. I’m going to be driving.

Overland always makes me think of old cars.

Rainbow > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/23/2015 at 16:31

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But by that definition, flying would be overland as well. Most people take a plane when they go overseas, and all planes pass over land as well. As do railroads, highways, etc. So if you’re just going by the fact that they pass over land, that’s not really descriptive enough.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:45

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Flying has made the Victorian words less descriptive. Point, I suppose? Your point about the etymology however made doesn’t make its meaning any less solid, though. You’re missing what one might call the “felt meaning” of the word “over”, though. Does the phrase “over hill and over dale” imply somebody riding a train or somebody catapulting their own stupid ass over said hill and dale in a glider, or does it intrinsically mean *over*? Like, traveling along, going *over* its contours? Passing physically across?

Overseas is “overseas” as an idiom expressly because people used to have to take a ship. I also sense that you’re ignoring what I pointed out about “land” in the same sense, what I called the “felt meaning”. At a basic level, words are concepts, and sometimes the concept portrayed by a word takes more words to fully define than the word itself - as it should be. In this sense, thesauri are the devil. Take the phrase “back to the land”. Land in its simplest sense means “an expanse of earth surface area”, if you will, but it’s the work of a simpleton to think that’s all it means, can mean, or implies. Contextual color of words is really important - “land” applies more heartily and boldly to wide open spaces than it ever possibly can to train routes or superhighways and *that* is the point. If somebody wants to travel “across land” (the same phrase as overland, slightly altered) in a military context, it means taking direct routes not bound to roads and rail.

Bottom line: overland - live it, love it. A couple people being snotty in their hipsterism does not mean that a *very good word* is in any way diminished. Words mean things, and “overland” is concise, clear, accurate, and evocative. It’s not anyone else’s problem if you choose for your vocabulary to undergo assisted Sapir-Whorfian suicide.

HammerheadFistpunch > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 16:55

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Its true, its a dumb name. However sailing is called...um...sailing because its not just being on water in a boat. Flying is called flying because its not just being in the air. Overland is called overland because its not just being offroad. It can also be called expedition, but that conjures up non-vehicular travel. It can be called adventure travel, but that too is a bit vague. Off road is obviously too broad a term (what, as opposed to on road?)

I think it sounds lame and eletists because there is a lot of lame and eletist people doing it. There are 2 sides to the sport

1. The art of selling, buying or otherwise acquiring gear for putting on and in your vehicle for better social media posts.

2. Seeing cool stuff while living off the beaten path out of your vehicle

The term houses both definitions so even though it has an air of the douche about it...its only half the story.

472CID > Berang 06/23/2015 at 17:12

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I too was trying to think of a new word, I came up with ‘trexabition’

nermal > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 17:18

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Because when you’re driving a $500k EarthRoamer, you need to use a much fancier term to separate yourself from rednecks in $5k Jeeps.

Expedition Portal has some of the highest income readership around - $120k on average according to them: Source

mtdrift > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 17:35

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Yeah, I get that. I think the term is evolving, though.

I don’t necessarily see the inherent douchiness of the word, but I do see how it has been appropriated in douchey ways. We try hard to find the terms that accurately describe our interactions with the world if we can’t use the old ones. I think “off roading” and “overlanding” are pretty specifically different concepts - I personally tend to find that “off roading” reflects the douchier behaviors of those who practice it.

English is historically the most malleable and unpredictable language on the planet, and part of what makes it great is the ability to make new words to reflect new experiences. The risk, of course, is that the meaning of your new word doesn’t belong to you forever. Other English speakers will take it and run, often in directions you didn’t intend. This is good.

Too douchey?

mtdrift > nermal 06/23/2015 at 17:37

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Holy shit, I did not know that. I’m way out of my tax bracket.

davedave1111 > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 17:50

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Because history. It’s not a new term at all, as it happens, it’s just come back into common usage recently. For most of human history almost all longer-distance travel took place by water - sea or river - wherever possible. Going somewhere overland was notable, so there was a word for it.

One more famous example might be the overland mail route to India in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the days when the sea journey to India involved sailing around the whole of Africa, it took months. There were fast relay riders (similar to the Pony Express) who could get a message (or person, in extremity) from Europe to India in less than half that time. Still, everyone travelled by ship because the overland journey was a serious hardship.

I guess to a large extent the same is true today as was true then: we don’t normally travel long distances on the ground. Hence, overlanding.

It’s still a hipster fucking word, though.

TheOnelectronic > Rainbow 06/23/2015 at 17:54

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For the same reason racing isn’t just called driving. It’s just a way to distinguish the act from the more technical, shorter-range connotation of “off-roading.”

Do you prefer “Expedition,” the other name for it? To me, Overlanding sounds better.