Wort des Tages
21 April 2026
elephant race
A situation in which one truck tries to overtake another at a slightly higher speed, blocking the road for passenger car drivers behind.
Warum dieses Wort
A calque of the German Elefantenrennen. Speed limiters set most heavy trucks within a few km/h of each other, so a pass that would take seconds in a car drags on for kilometres with the outside lane corked.
In use
He pulled out on a climb and turned it into an elephant race; had the whole lane behind him stacked up for two miles before he got back in.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.