this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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memes

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[–] DrSleepless@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago

I have no idea what is happening but I dig it

[–] CluckN@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Big Bicycle did a lot of puppetry to avoid these magnificent feats of engineering from coming overseas.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 8 points 19 hours ago

no gears
no freewheel
no brakes
no handlebars
no seat

The fixie hipster crowd would have been all over them.
SO MINIMAL

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Isn't pedalo an insult in French?

[–] superkret@feddit.org 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] atro_city@fedia.io 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

A bit of searching and I found the word just means pedals in esperanto. For some reason the word pédale has another meaning of "faggot". I can't find any etymology for it, but probably it's a changed spelling of pédéraste which translates to boy-lover - and I've heard Russians scream it at me in online games.

In conclusion, not directly a French insult, but maybe?

I speak french and kid me imagined pédale was referring to the way a bike pedal rotates down with gravity the same way the stereotypical gay was walking with broken wrists. (Same as tapette) Yeah I'm not proud of how my generation treated the gays. Trying to do better with my kids.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 10 points 23 hours ago

Pédalo is the word for those pedal propelled boats you can rent in touristy spots, like with the kids slide at the back. The rest of what you said about pédale is all correct.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 6 points 22 hours ago

Switch to English wiktionary for pédale and it suggests also looking at the shorter version of the word, where it is explained where it comes from and - guess what - you're exactly right.

Also pederast comes from ancient greek which explains how widespread it is. Pede/pederast is commonly used in Estonian as well, as an insult. Usually just the equivalent of faggot, but boy lover

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 4 points 21 hours ago

You're thinking about pédale

[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.snekerpimp.space 10 points 23 hours ago

Now we just need these things in some beans

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I tried to find Pedalorennen or similar. No luck.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Pro Pedalo racing was banned after what happened at the 1978 World Cup finals in Hockenheim.
Most of the survivors are still in a wheelchair today - and suffering from severe PTSD.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Sounds dreadful.