Squids

What is a Squid? 
Squid is an irresponsible motorcyclist; it is generally associated with a new or reckless motorcyclist seen riding erratically and/or beyond his or her capabilities, often without appropriate riding gear.

The origin of the word is varyingly attributed as: 


- A contraction of squirreley andkid, or an acronym for "Stupidly Quick, Underdressed, Ignorant and Dangerous"or "Stupidly Quick, Underdressed and Imminently Dead"  Observing a squid underwater, it seems that the creature is unable to change direction while swimming without first coming to a near complete stop. Once the squid does stop and change directions, it can very quickly accelerate back to its regular swimming speed. 


- Beginning motorcyclists (especially sports bike riders) commonly have trouble turning the motorcycle with any substantial amount of speed (causing them to slow down to unnecessarily slow speed to take a turn), while at the same time have a tendency to ride very fast on the straight sections of the road. 


- Newly-inducted sailors based in San Diego in the '60s would frequently buy an inexpensive 2-stroke moto for transportation while on shore, whether they'd ever ridden before or not. So, you had large numbers of unprotected, inexperienced "marine life", squirting through traffic in a hurry and leaving a trail of black "ink" (smoke) behind them.

Often young, this motorcyclist is identified by their reckless abandon (speeding, wheelies, stoppies etc.) and by their inappropriate attire (Shorts, backwards ball cap, flip flops, Wife Beater T-shirt, etc). Such a rider eschews all or most of the protective gear worn by many riders (helmet, gloves, leather jacket, riding pants, and boots) and the social and legal norms of riding behaviour, and as such is looked upon with derision by experienced motorcyclists, who also refer to them as "organ donors", "Zip-Splats", "Skin Crayons", and "soon-to-be-ex-motorcyclists".