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You board a train, board a bus, and board a ship, but you don't board a car (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] 52 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Probably because cars are personal and the rest are mass transit. It’s not yours, but you pay to get on board when needed.

I have to explain to non-English speakers why you get in a car or a taxi but get on a bus or train.

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago

    It seems to me that the preposition usage corresponds to the boarding language pretty closely. Where "on" sounds most natural is also where "boarding" seems most appropriate.

    Here is one linguist's take, with proposed usage cases at the end: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005224.html

    The schedule/route condition makes a lot of sense to me. Consider a bus converted to personal use as an rv:

    "I boarded my bus and drove to the mountains" is a valid English sentence, but it sounds odd to me. But if it's still a regular bus and drove->rode it works.

    "I drove to the mountains in my bus" sounds better. Same vehicle as a city/school bus, different context. Change to a regular bus and drove->rode doesn't sound right without also changing "in my" to "on the".

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