Some Twitter users have been up in arms over the top photo, but it may be hard for some to tell why.
The photo isn’t an optical illusion and it’s not a GIF that changes over time.
As some users noted, the man is allowing the woman to walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk–the side closest to the road. Yes, this is actually proper etiquette.
It’s in the same category of things like holding open a door, offering an umbrella, or placing a coat on a puddle for a woman to walk on (although that’s a little bit extreme).
“I’m sure half of you guys don’t even know what’s wrong with this picture. Smh (shake my head),” wrote one commenter on Twitter of the photo.
@ibi_babyyy the lady should never be on the street side..
— EL GUAPO CACAHUATE™ (@__Pnut) May 19, 2015
Said another person: “Bruh (brother) needs to switch sides with her. It bothers me when I see this in real life.”
For men, “While walking down the street you should walk on the right side,” according to Modern Gentleman magazine. It adds, “No need to mention but if you have an umbrella with you, you should not swing with it. You never know who you might hit and hurt.”
“If you are walking down a street in the company of a woman or a man know that the right side is honorary side. You will let a woman walk on the right side of you or a man if he is a senior person. In this way we honor them,” the magazine says. “This custom dates from the middle ages when knights wore the sword on the left side keeping the right side free, since the right arm was ‘fighting arm.'”
