'drive' a bike

[Fowlersrs]

[Alpha-9]

Drive/drīv/
Verb:
Operate and control the direction and speed of a motor vehicle:

You can drive a bike.

But I get it, riding is sitting on the vehicle rather than inside it, for example you could ride/surf a van
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Fzr-600 1999

[Vincent]

[Ambitions0far...]

Riding comes from the horses, the cowboys term for moving cattle while on horseback was driving. They started using driving as a term for using a horse to work, they then dicided that to drive a horse you needed a license but to just ride it you didn't. When the motor vechile was introduced the term drive (which was now in common use) was adapted to it. As a bike is a modern day horse the term stands, being used for pleasure it is riding, if used for moving cattle its driving xD


*I may be talking completely out my arse..
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Current: ZX10r (2006)
EX's: NSR 125 (1999) AJS 125 (2011) ER 6f (2010) R6 (2003)

[goto10]

[Shaft]

[goto10]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[Shaft]

[Rogerborg]

Every year, I care fewer and fewer about grammar abuse.

You don't drive a bike, you don't fire an arrow, and you don't blow a job.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Derivative]

Had a similar discussion with some of my mates a while back.

You get in a taxi or car, but you get on a bus or train.

There must be some set of rules governing the usage of either word but I can't put my finger on it.

[mistergixer]

[felicity]

[goto10]

[N cee thirty]

really grinds my gears

you don't fucking drive a horse do you, cba correcting people anymore as they never learn.
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[felicity]

[MarJay]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[felicity]

[Vincent]

AFAIK, "Literallly" means exactly as the words state. So, if you say "I was literally over the moon" about something, you would have to be in space and on the other side of the moon.
An example of, (what I believe to be), the correct way of using the word would be to say something like "the pub was literally empty" meaning that the pub had nobody inside at all, where as you might say "the pub was empty" without using the word "literally" when there was maybe one or two people inside said pub.

I could be wrong but don't think so.
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

From the Concise Oxford Dictionary:-

" In its standard use, literally means "in a literal sense". In recent years an extended use of literally has become very common, where it is used for effect in non-literal contexts, (as in we literally killed ourselves laughing), but this use is NOT ACCEPTABLE in standard English."


Notice how they say "in recent use" not quite hundreds of years Personally, I've only noticed the word being used incorrectly over the last year or two. IMO, if you use the word "literally" as an intensifier, you remove it's value.

Apologies DB, 'didn't see the last bit of your post - literally!
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

[Ayrton]

I sometimes use it when telling people i have a bike. otherwise ive had them stare at me as if they think i pedal everywhere

[Rogerborg]

[stevo as b4]

My terrible spelling isn't letting me reply to this topic sufficiantly!

I do think the "driving a motorbike" thing, is partly a lack of proper education of todays kids, partly due to a lazy attitude to use of grammer, and the change in accepted words and language due to text speak and slang etc.

It's also a typically though not universally chav style expression, and while yes it's incorrect and fairly annoying, it bother's me very little if the person im talking to seems to be otherwise a normally intelligent human being. I have to say i do find it slighty funny when people unknowningly use incorrect grammer or terms to describe things, so i never correct them!

As for the Kawasaki Ninja thing, Marjay im sorry, but i've often said i own a kawasaki Ninja xxx cc, in my defence i do feel that it used to be a correct or acceptable term back in the mid 80's though, as:

1, There wasn't very many machines in the range with the Ninja label, so people probably knew exactly which bike you had if you said "i've got a Ninja mate". And surely it's no different to saying "i ride a Gamma" instead of an RG250/500 etc?

2, Chav culture wasn't around back then like it is now, as so words and expressions we could get away with using that were slightly incorrect or abbreviated, were not picked up by and incorporated into the language of common day chav speak.