Because then it would be carboard
You board a taxi, though.
You definitely board a taxi though
Most of the time anyone who travels by care are or can be the driver of the conveyance. That is very rare for people who travel by train, bus, ship, plane.
Not with that attitude
but you can board (up) a house
(like boarding up the windows)
Witness me!!
You can walk on board a bus, boat or train. You sit down into a car.
You used to need to cross a board or a plank to get on the ship or train but you don’t need that for a car.
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.
Interesting approach, but where does that leave taxis?
You board a coach, even if it’s your own coach with them HOERSENS IN FRONTA DEM!!!
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”.
Sure you do. It’s just not something people commonly say.
But boarding and disembarking a car is totally valid language.
I disembark the beamer babyeah-oh! I disembark the Bee Emm Double You!
Not true. When you’re in a car you’re “onboard”.
Evidenced by the “Baby on Board” stickers
You also ride on a bus or on a ship but you ride in a car
Also motorcycles and bicycles.
I think it has to do with the fact that in the first three, you can (and do right after entering) stand up (like on a ship, probably where this was first used), while in a car you immediately sit down?
But ultimately this is a trait of the English language, in my first language (German) we “steigen ein” in all of these.
