Easy Rider and Chopperguy

I've come to terms with the double meaning of the term chopper. All cool. I no longer throw a fit when someone points at some super fat bike that happens to be long and calls it a chopper. I've even stopped blowing up when people call my narrow profile chopped Sportster a Hog. As the language changes from the exclusive property of the two-wheeled initiates into that of television consumer culture, the language mutates. To insist otherwise would be as antiquated as insisting that people understand the difference between using thee and thou.

Another one that really screwed with my head was FTW. As far back as I can remember in both the motorcycle and punk scenes FTW had only one meaning. Then I started playing online video games and kept seeing FTW in conjunction with some of the strangest things. Sword of Bestial Wrath FTW? Protection Spec FTW? In what way did these things warrant the use of Fuck The World? So I asked. Turns out in video game circles it means For The Win. Two different scenes with two different uses of the same three letters. But then some motorcyclists with FTW patches try telling me it means Forever Two Wheels.

So now someone can send me a message that says, "Choppers FTW!" and I'll have no clue what they actually mean. There are six different combinations from the examples above, and maybe the person is really into helicopters.

I can only hope that extending the middle finger upwards while showing the back of the hand doesn't come to mean Forever Yours.