While out on my motorcycle today, it occurred to me that one "rides" a motorcycle, yet one "drives" a car or a truck. Anyone have any explanation for this discrepency?

Note also that one rides a horse in order to drive cattle. Hmmm.

Note also that one rides a horse in order to drive cattle.

Good one, Dad, but I guess you ride astride a motorcycle but sit in a comfy chair to drive a car.

lusy

As I'm also too lazy to LIU or do any research, I'll guess that it does, indeed, refer to the use of animals as transportation. "To ride" implies that you are seated upon the animnal; "to drive," that you are behind it, urging it along. When you drive a horse and carr, you are doing the latter, notwithstanding the fact that you are following the horse through no effort of your own.

The same is true, by analogy, with car and mo'bike. And, indeed, in the vast majority of cars, you do sit behind the engine, whilst on the vast majority of Motorbikes, you sit over it.

(This doesn't thoroughly explain it, of course, if you take into consideration that the earliest motor cars were rear-engined! hmmmm)

Is a lady who sits side saddle on a horse "riding' it?

Is a lady who sits side saddle on a horse "riding' it?


Nope, she's saddled with grief!

I know, I know. I'm a Monotreme and just laid an egg!

Bridle regards,
WildWest

Remember the cowboy who worried about his girlfriend riding astride, because you can stretch a good thing too far?

that reminds me, a childless friend asked once "what is teen age girls facination with horses all about?" as we walked in a park, and watched group after group of young girls go by on horse back.

i replied "i dunno, what ever could be appealing about speading your legs wide, and using your leg muscles to grab hold of hard, well muscled body, that causes you to bound up and down rhythmicly? and to think the young girl has full control of this hard, well muscled body and can control the speed, and nature of the rhythm she bounces at? I dunno.. why ever would they enjoy that?" he blushed and had trouble looking at the next group of riders!

I guess you ride astride a motorcycle but sit in a comfy chair to drive a car.

Yet one pilots an aeroplane or a boat, regardless of where the power plant is located. Even the persons who provide both power and control of human-powered aircraft are called pilots, even though they're "riding" them, as in a bicycle.

Yet one pilots an aeroplane or a boat

If one is to believe such TV shows as JAG military pilots will drive their planes.

Ok, so you ride a horse and bike (and a bike seat is called a saddle)

you drive a cart or wagon (or cattle) or a car

you pilot a ship or plane..

you also ride a scooter, or even the new segways..

riding is singular (generally) one person/one horse, one person/one bike, one person/one scooter, etc. you are in direct contol of the moving vehicle.

driving is a group (or a potential group,) and driving you are slightly removed from the engine. you drive a wagon, the horses/oxen/ponies, etc., up front, and you are directing them remotely.. other can ride while you drive..
same is true for a car.. the steering wheel is a remote contol for wheels, the brake and gas, remote controls for speeds, stopping.

you pilot something that moves in medium were gravity is not the only major forse to deal with (yes, friction, momemtum, and what is the fourth force in locomotion? never took physics, just read it for fun)

in a boat (or plane) Wind is your means of locomotion. you must harness the wind-- which is very different then harnessing horses or oxen or ponies or whatever!

and not just wind, but tides, and currents, and waves.. the factors in movement are very different (in planes its air speeds, altitude, wind (and wind shear) but again, very different than moving on land.. (oops.. you pilot vehicles that aren't on land? is that it?)

If one is to believe such TV shows as JAG military pilots will drive their planes.

That's a little understatement to make the taxpayers not worry about what it costs for them to do it! One will also hear pilots simply say that they fly their planes. One also hears military pilots called jet jockies. Now, where's the saddle on that firey steed?

As for Helen's calling a bicycle seat a saddle, yes, unless you haven't ridden much, in which case it's called a pain in the perineum and proximate tissues. After doing the 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland bike ride for the first time, I referred to its acronym (STP) as "Severely Traumatized Perineum!"

i read somewhere the reluctance to the new split seats (two rounded pad) is that a bike seat has been called a saddle, and it's current shape is a modified saddle (just as riding lawn mowers have saddle seats) and our 'mind set' of saddle is, interfers with the new seat, which is unsaddlelike.

while we are at it 'bucket seats'? so they really look like a bucket? i hate the sound of them. my car doesn't have a "bench seat" (could't really, i have 5 on the floor) but buckets seats? yeach!

buckets seats

When I was little and first heard this term, I thought it literally meant seats made of buckets, maybe with a bit cut out so you could stretch your legs out while sitting in it!

while we are at it 'bucket seats'?

I feel I am being pedantic, but still here goes! The bucket seat is found in the truly old fashioned style of sports car. It is formed to hug the body to keep you steady when taking those fast bends, and is almost semi-circular when seen from above. So with its low to the ground seat cushion, ‘cos the sports car is low to the ground, and the way it is shaped to grip you, it does look like a bucket with one side cut away. Otherwise there are bench seats and just plain seats, one each for passenger and driver, each like half a bench seat, separated by the gear lever and upper part of the gear box housing (preferably manual) and the transmission tunnel. When the American car makers took to putting the gear lever on the steering column it allowed the front seat to become a bench seat like the back seat.

i read somewhere the reluctance to the new split seats (two rounded pad)

As one who has put more than a few miles "in the saddle" of a bicycle, I can assure you that the so-called "comfort seats" for bikes are designed for those who have physical limitations that preclude sticking a proper saddle between their legs. Studies have shown that the most efficient position for extracting the most power from the human body long-term is the classic cyclist's position, i.e. with the torso bent at about 45 to 60 degrees, legs outstrecthed at the bottom ot the stroke to within six to ten degrees of flexion. It may hurt for a while, but if you want to go long-distance or fast on a bike, that's how you'll do it best. The human-powered airplanes all use the classic cyclist's position for their "engines." So, are the two-pad, or tractor seat-style bike seats "saddles" In the loosest of connotations, I recon so, but there IS a difference!

Bean and DXB, I think you're on the right track with regard to bucket seats! (Only the lady in the Britcom pronounces it "Bouquet!) My understanding is that it devolved from the design of WWII fighter aircraft seats, which had a "bucket" into which the parachute went, and the pilot sat on it. Those seats closely resembled post-war sports car seats, thus the name.

While perhaps ride implies a more intimate exposure
to the elements or at least some of them: ride a horse, motorcycle, or fighter-jet?

Have you never heard someone say of a car, "That's a nice ride?" Or a fine sexual experience as "a great ride?" Hmmmm... that one makes your point!

jet jockies?

Oh my Gawd No! Dear Geoff -- Jet Jockey or Jet Jock.
Like riding a thoroghbred horse (Jockey) being very athletic!(Jock)

Nothin to do with "tightie whities."

It seems obvious that ride vs drive originated with driving a horse attached to a vehicle.

Jet Jockey or Jet Jock.
Like riding a thoroghbred horse (Jockey) being very athletic!(Jock)

Well, my dear, did you ever see a fat fighter pilot? One does not pull seven Gs, even in a G-suit, without being pretty physically fit. Ever see airshow pilot Patty Wagstaff? Body like a brick privvy, she has!

When the American car makers took to putting the gear lever on the steering column it allowed the front seat to become a bench seat like the back seat.

dXb, we haven't had 3 on the tree (as stick shift on the steering column was commonly known )for well, a very long time.

no, wait.. it not been that long.. i mean .. i learned to drive 3 on the tree, and then 4 on the floor, and now 5 on the floor..

to be fair, americans haven't had 3 on the tree, since, oh i'd say, before Jazzo was born.. the first car i drove was old, when i got to drive it.. it was a 1963 dodge dart..back in days when a a V-6 slant car, that seated 5 was considered a compact car! really it wasn't that long ago.... i am not that old..i am not that old..

actually the first car i drove was an automatic, a 1961 Plymouth Fury, a former NY police car that was recycled (bought for the World Fair, it never left the fair grounds till 1965, when it was sold.)but it too was old by the time i got to drive it!

"Jet Jockey or Jet Jock. Like riding a thoroghbred horse (Jockey) being very athletic!(Jock)"

Jock started out as a Scots name, came to mean a boy, then a boy or small man who rode race horses, then designation of an extremely vital undergarment worn by riders of racehorses, then worn by athletes in general, and then a pejorative to refer to collegians more amply endowed with muscle than brains.Now used for so many specialists little recognizable connection to its origin.But always a bit of put-down.

of troy says: riding is singular (generally) one person/one horse, one person/one bike, one person/one scooter, etc. you are in direct contol of the moving vehicle.

My motorcycle is a two passenger motor vehicle. For many years, our family of four went out on the two motorcycles, son with my hubby, and daughter with me.

And in case anyone is not aware, operating a motorcycle is much more difficult than operating an automobile. You have hand and foot controls to operate the clutch, the gears, the two brakes, and the accelerator. Not to mention balancing, which is not easy with a passenger. And you have the openness of the vehicle itself and you are a much smaller vehicle for other drivers to see.

I never ride alone, hubby is always ahead of me. He has a "firefly" on his headlamp which alternates between the normal light and the bright, making for a very noticeable light. I have a similar feature on my rear light. Together we make a much larger picture for other drivers to see. We also use them for pleasure, not for long trips, and usually stick to back country roads with little or no vehicular traffic.

And yes, New York State has a helmet law. I would not ride without one. We even have a helmet law here for bicycles for kids and adults.

I think that the terms "riding a motorcycle" and "driving a car" are direct transfers from the analogous modes of nonmotorized transportation; that of riding a horse and driving (in a) wagon, and that the distinction in use between horse and wagon is that the driving referred to the horse the rider in the wagon was driving. One rides a horse by being carried; one drives a horse pulling a wagon by providing the signals necessary to get the horse to pull the wagon in the direction desired.

There're also the colloquializms : "riding" someone or continually pestering them with comments, instructions, etc. until you "drive" them crazy!