A strange thing was pointed out by a comedian I listened to last night. We get ON a subway or a train and then get OFF it at the destination. We get IN the car and then OUT of it. We do neither one when we TAKE a cab.
@Bobby Cole Fellow I worked with years ago, Canadian-born, (he was said to have swum the Detroit River at 16), suddenly exclaimed as we toiled at some assembly, "I'm going to have a pee", and left. Upon returning, I questioned him: "Have"........as in what, drink it? We down here Take one, not Have it! Frank
The reason is probably that the original train carriages were little more than a flat bed truck that passengers got on. Cars were mostly enclosed. and Cabs allow us to 'take a ride' that we purchase. But I am only guessing
You get ON a flight in a plane ... we always shorten things to make them easier to say ... AS IN ... 'butterfly's' were originally 'flutter-by's' ... but people lapsed into the easier pronunciation ... 'Flutter-by's' is so much more descriptive but language always seems to degenerate to the lowest common denominator... So little much loved young'uns say things like ... WAZUP ... OMG ... LOL ...
Seems to me that I TAKE a flight ON a plane as in the past tense "which flight did you take"? Present tense is indeed, which flight or plane are you on"? No matter, as long as we gozup and gets down.
Which, brings about another small travesty. If the pilot goes to sleep at the stick and the plane goes down killing 300, it's pilot error. If a driver falls asleep at the wheel and kills one person other than himself it's involuntary manslaughter. I'm probably going into the direction of political correctness but ya'll get my drift.
That is my Sweetie ! You sure know how to bring a thread crashing down fast. We were all flying high here until that pilot fell asleep at the wheel (helm ? Cockpit? ) and now we are all victims of pilot error.