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Radovan Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

To bib someone

Hi everyone.


In an article on the BBC website a lady tells her story: “I had a terrible, terrible road rage incident,” she remembers. “The car behind me, which happened to be full of large men, bibbed me for not having gone through a light quickly enough.”


What does she mean by "bib"? That they flashed their headlights at her? Sounded the horn? Or something else?

And, by the way, "go through a light", does that mean to accelarate after the green light comes on at the traffic lights?


Thank you for explaining.

  

Top answer

As far as I can gather from Google search, "bibbing" means sounding the horn -- presumably a similar kind of imitative word to "beeping". I didn't know this meaning of "bib" and I can't find it in dictionaries. Someone on another forum suggests that it is used in southern England, but I have never heard it here (or, if I have, I probably thought the person was saying "beep").

— GPY

  • As far as I can gather from Google search, "bibbing" means sounding the horn -- presumably a similar kind of imitative word to "beeping".
  • I didn't know this meaning of "bib" and I can't find it in dictionaries.
  • Someone on another forum suggests that it is used in southern England, but I have never heard it here (or, if I have, I probably thought the person was saying "beep").
  • "go through a light" in this case just means drive through a set of traffic lights.
  • It is not specific about whether the car was accelerating away or driving at a constant speed.
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6 Answers
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As far as I can gather from Google search, "bibbing" means sounding the horn -- presumably a similar kind of imitative word to "beeping". I didn't know this meaning of "bib" and I can't find it in dictionaries. Someone on another forum suggests that it is used in southern England, but I have never heard it here (or, if I have, I probably thought the person was saying "beep").

"go through

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radovanWhat does she mean by "bib"?

I think it is a misprint. I've never heard "bib" in that context. It might be "rib."

radovan"go through a light", does that mean to accelerate after the green light comes on at the traffic lights?

Probably. That's a good guess.

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I think it's supposed to be "ribbed"

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/.../rib_2 rib somebody (about/over something) (old-fashioned, informal) to laugh at somebody and make jokes about them, but in a friendly way synonym tease He used t
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radovanWhat does she mean by "bib"?

To beep, meaning to sound the horn. It is one of the noticeable features of English as used by people who are ill-educated in the UK. It's based on mishearing the word beep and is a mistake like saying "could of" instead of could've.

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Another point worth remembering is that bib https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bib is actually a different word with different meanings.

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Here is a bit more from that article if it helps. Thank you everyone. It is good to know that not understanding is not always my fault

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