Everyone who travels on public transport is well aware of the "spreader" - the man whose knees are magnets of the same polarity & have to be as far apart as his legs will allow (independent of the space provided). This is the bane of bus travel, which is designed for two people to sit primly on a seat, rather than one to take up twice us much legroom as seat width.
However, I have come to the conclusion that, however bad this is, men are not the only kinds of weird space-hogs. I have found women who travel regularly on trains who try to contort themselves in such a way that they take up far more space than necessary, often imposing on others, & sometimes making it very difficult to "get around" them.
The first of the these is the "crosser". It seems that women's knees have opposite polarity. Admittedly, some men cross their legs on the train, but not that many compared to the number of women who try valiantly to squeeze one leg over the other in the cramped space, often dangling a foot out into the aisle to trip an unsuspecting passer-by. In the process of crossing, they half-turn in their seat & project a knee towards their seat-mates.
Note - on a crowded train, this usually only happens on the aisle-side, so, when one of those seat-mates attempts an exit, it becomes a major un-contortioning to get out.
The final example of strange behaviour in public is that of the "curler". This is someone for whom public transport is so terrifying that they have to go into the foetal position to cope with the stresses of not having to drive themselves. In this case, they leave a lot of floor-space unused - potentially a bonus, but instead of allowing someone the shoulder or elbow space to sit forward next to them, there is now no option but to either be pressed hard up against the curled form, or else be squeezed against the window (or into the aisle).
Curlers often sleep in this position (or simply pretend). Some will simply sit with their feet up on the seat like a bird on a perch, their wings wrapped around them protectively. Curlers can sometimes also grasp their belongings close to their chest - somewhat like a homeless person taking a nap.
The only other kind of space hog on the train that comes to mind is the precious bag. The precious bag must have its own seat. In fact, the precious bag gets quite grumpy if forced to move from its seat. I've even known a precious bag's companion to give up their own space so that the precious bag can be comfortable. Because the precious bag is not human, it's outside of the domain of this particular blog.
