American slang - what do you call making a u-turn?

Hanging a u-y. /youee/ Ozark Hills, Missouri.

Making a uterine. Cal-E-Forn-I-A.

I have never heard anyone in my area refer to a u-turn as anything but a u-turn. I am from Southern California in Los Angeles County.

Same as @KNOWITALL. I live in South Carolina, but my parents called it that while I was growing up in Chicago.

Here in Massachusetts, it’s either “bang a u-ie” or “make a u-turn”.

I call it a u turn. Make a u turn, made a u turn, making a u turn.

If it is a tight space and I have to go back and forth to turn around I sometimes call it a K turn or 3 point turn, or even just say I need to turn around. But, if it is a simple u on the road, I don’t have any nicknames for it, I just use u turn.

As Charo once said, “Why no me turn???”

There is a small town we pass through occasionally. They have a “No J turn” sign up. Not quite sure what it means.

Other than as a traffic term, I’ve always used u-turn to indicate a complete change of heart/mind.Like, this morning I woke up planning to go see a movie but later I did a u-turn and decided to stay indoors all day.

Seems like if it had a nickname, it’d be called a boomerang.

@Dutchess_III I think a J is like a Michigan left. The turn is not made at the intersection. It’s odd that a sign would say no J turn though.

What is a Michigan left?

I wonder if it means don’t try to park in a spot if you have to turn across traffic.

Ditto on hanging a you-eee

Yep. Just realized that’s what we say too @josie. We hang a lot of stuff around here. We hang you-ees, we hang lefts, we hanga right, we hang ten, we hang horse thieves.

Michigan left

Oh. Well. I guess I would wreck there @JLeslie.

In Michigan their regular left is more dangerous in my opinion. In intersections they stay on the right of the cars making a left from the opposite lanes of travel. The rest of the country we drive on the left in the intersection. At least every other state I have travelled in we are on the left.

We used to call it making a bat-turn. You would have to remember the series to understand that.

I remember the series….not putting it together though.

they would make a bat turn (a u turn) by dropping a huge, round car lift on the ground, which would turn them 180 degrees.

Oh yeah! Ok…I remember. Robin was sexy. Batman was old. I was 10.

Oh yeah! The bat-turn was great. Ha-ha! I had forgotten about that.

Western NY – We call it a U y, pronounced “you eee”.

My oldest grandson used to call it pulling a you-ee

u bolt. south australia

Flipping a bitch. Colorado/Philadelphia.

A U-turn unless it’s done with much throttle, then it’s called a “cookie.”

I’ve always called it a u-turn. I was a west coast girl for about 20 years and a Midwest girl for the other 20+.

@JLeslie Are you aware of other states with driving maneuver nicknames? I’ve also heard of a California stop. My father used the term often.

@jonsblond Not that I can think of off the top of my head. That could be a good Q. Maybe there are all sorts of nicknames out there for many things. I’ve never heard of a California stop; what does it mean?

I think I forgot to mention I grew up in Maryland outside of DC and the suburbs of New York City. I’ve also lived in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Coming from a west coast Canadian truck driver, have called it several different things over the years, Burn a nut, hook a nut, pull a U ee, those are the slangs I have heard over the years.

@tom_g: I like how some places “hang” a you-eee, but here in Massachusetts, we “bang” them. LOL.

Now, why would ya’ll do that?

@JLeslie Not coming to a full stop at a stop sign is a California stop.

@jonsblond Growing up in MD that was a big deal. At least in my town it was. Cops sat at 4 way stop intersections and gave out ticket after ticket.

Where we are now there are a lot of sidewalks and the stop line of course is before the crosswalk, and the crosswalks are quite wide. I recently drilled my husband when we first moved here (Tampa Bay, FL area) that he needs to stop back by the stop line. I actually was worried my husband would hit someone. It wasn’t so much about coming to a complete stop. But slowing down back by the line. Most drivers just think about car traffic.

I just heard on line that flipping a bitch is a west coast thing, hanging a u-ey is a midwest thing, and burning a nut is an east coast thing. That is why I was asking, and why I wanted to know what area you are from. I see that Colorado and Utah go with flipping a bitch, so I am seeing some areas being defined. Very interesting.

Me and @KNOWITALL pull a you-ee. What does that tell ya’ll?

Yup, midwest.

10–4 Good Buddy.