Living Car Free - Semantics.
Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.
kjohnnytarr
11-30-07, 02:34 PM
Why do we say that people "ride" bikes, but they "drive" cars?
It seems like it'd be the other way around, since using a car is so passive, whereas one quite literally is the driving force of a bicycle.
RadioFlyer
11-30-07, 02:36 PM
Parkway.
Driveway.
:D
I think it's because when bikes were first developed, people noticed that you sit astride them, a lot like riding a horse. Later they saw that in a car, you sit in a chair--more like driving a carriage or wagon.
This is just a guess. And I don't know why "driving" changed from it's earlier meaning of herding a group of animals, like a cattle drive or driving a flock of geese. Or even swatting at mosquitoes to drive them away.
maddyfish
11-30-07, 02:45 PM
I say ride the bike, rand ride the car. It confused people.
kjohnnytarr
11-30-07, 02:47 PM
I say ride the bike, rand ride the car. It confused people.
yeah, I say "oh, you rode your car here" or something like that sometimes...but mostly, it's a mistake.
I say I drive my bike sometimes. And I ask people if they want me to give them a ride (on the handlebars).
kjohnnytarr
11-30-07, 04:04 PM
I say I drive my bike sometimes. And I ask people if they want me to give them a ride (on the handlebars).
Haha! You just made me realize that I always say that I ride my bike, but I tell people that I drive a pedicab.
seafoamer
11-30-07, 04:50 PM
"They see me ro-----llin'...."