Why do we say that?

[NW Mailing List]

Oh Frankie and Abramowitski why oh why, oh why?

Much of the nomenclature is attributable to language slip as you mention
and a lot more is from European and other worldly nomenclature where the
norm for the engineman (or is it engineer?) is "driver?"

When I used to operate trolley cars, museum visitors would invariably ask
where the steering wheel was. Now THAT one always annoyed me for it showed
their lack of any idea of anything about trains and rails. I typically
reminded and/or asked how many of them had model trains as kids Or even
adults and with that start and the flanges, then they could comprehend
there was no steering wheel on the dad-blamed things, any rail vehicles
except Hi-Rail types.

And it goes on from there, explaining that you can't just "drive" "your"
train onto another company's tracks because they were there and connected.
When I took the analogy to the point of them having to qualify every six
months or year for their automobile drivers license, having to describe all
intersections with their roadway and get a passing score, plus any new road
they travelled on, they had to pass that same test in order to drive their
car, the comprehension rate all of a sudden increased as to how and why
trains operate the way they do. Then I tossed in random drug tests as a
point of amusement and said playing with your cell-phone in any manner was
no-no offense, then they really took notice, so the language and knowledge
creep as it may be isn't quite as bad.

However, the news media's lack of comprehension regarding grade crossing
mishaps, as an example always infuriates me, as if that nasty train can all
of a sudden jump ('scuse me steer) out of the way of that nice automobile
which had a some nincompoop behind the wheel who is about to become a
statistic. But then again, remember the courts awarded that lady how much
money because the fast-food giant didn't warn them their coffee was "hot",
so they put it between their legs while driving and got scalded, sued and
won.

So as I end my soapbox rant here, remember the media can steer and/or slant
anything whether it means to, knows what it is saying or not, and THAT is
what the general populace sees and believes.

Bob Cohen
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