According to "New Yorker" pedicabs are invading New York. I don't believe we have them in Chicago. Have any of you seen them? They are bicycle taxis, and there has been some discussion as to what to call them. Strictly speaking, it should be called a tricycle taxi since it consists of a contraption with a saddle and one wheel in front, pulling a small caleche that rides on 2 wheels on back. The American moniker seems to be pedicab, though other terms are surrey, caleche, or barouche. If you have seen one, what was it called? What should it be called, do you think?

There have been a few in London - though I haven't seen any recently so I don't know whether the venture's still going.

I can't remember having seen a name for them - but I suspect that we would be likely to call them Rickshaws - after the Chinese orginals.

They are still being used in London, Richard. I see them regularly. I've no idea what they are called, though.

The one I see most often is named Rick Shaw.

"Jinriksha," from Japanese "man-powered vehicle," is appropriate whether the person powering it is on foot or pedaling.

A rickshaw is man-powered, but not bike powered. But a 'jinriksha' works? Good to know!

TRISHAW!


The pedicab has long been seen as a symbol of Asian poverty or backwardness. Even today, all across Asia, inadequate transport for travellers--the inadequacy of the car--means that bikes remain overwhelmingly common <!--??--> Singapore must be regarded as an anomoly. Viewed in these terms, the pedicab is the key to understanding the universality <!--??--> of modernization in Asia, more than the points of commonality or difference. Pedicabs permeat Asia--called Rintaku in Japan, Sanrinsha in China and Taiwan, Tricycles in the Phillipines, Cyclos in Vietnam and Cambodia, Samlows in Thailand and Laos, Trishaws in Singapore, Becha in Malaysia and Indonesia, Saicar in Burma, Rickshaw or Cycleshaw in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. But whatever they're called, they're all over the place, and its interesting to note that there aren't as many variations as there are languages. Trishaw is a contraction of tricycle and rickshaw; saicar is a contraction of sidecar; tricycle is an English word already; Cyclo is pseudo-French invented in the Indochinese peninsula; and rintaku combines the Japanese words for bike and taxi--the European influence is in all these words.

* ** *** ***** ******** ***** *** ** *
In Singapore (1985) I saw pedicabs whose drivers were blonde Ausralian women.

the air sweat before it rains

our humid eyes
calm as clouds
rainy season and still
swollen smile
four peso pedicab
takes me one mile

why did he
brake for me
a banana leaf wider than my head
"for you" he said
"the rain is coming"
and i
smi
led

http://poetry.tetto.org/read/8361/

The company name on the side of one I saw today was "London Bicycle Taxis". This is despite the fact that the vehicles used are tricycles...

This morning I saw a guy pedalling a mobile billboard around London. He was lying back in a sort of reclining position to pedal, and the vehicle had four small wheels. On the back the company name was shown as "INFO-Bikes Ltd". This immediately reminded me of Richard inveighing against "quad-bike" in earlier posts.

There is, of course, the perfectly good word "quadricycle", but there is no satisfactory short form; we have "bike" for "bicycle" and "trike" for "tricycle", but "quad" has already been pre-empted for one of four children born at once.

Cycles pedaled in a semi-supine position are called recumbents. As for "quadricycle," that's the name Henry Ford gave his very first automobile - built by bicycle mechanics, by the way!

The term I heard used in India and Malaysia (in 1980) was trishaw for the pedicabs, but rickshaw for the two-wheeled vehicle pulled by a man (in Hong Kong). Ob. etym. rickshaw < Japanese jinrikisha literally, 'man power vehicle'.

quote:

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but "quad" has already been pre-empted for one of four children born at once.

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It has also been taken as a college word. At my school is signifies the central "quadrangle" of campus. Although the term has describes the "engineering quad" which has an official name of "Bardeen quadrangle", and is a rectangle. It is also used for the "Business Quad", although the shape is a bit off.

Quote "...but "quad" has already been pre-empted for one of four children born at once. ..."

But where's the problem? There are many. many English words that have multiple meanings and we seem to live with them.

If the word "quad" has to do service for a mere three definitions I think it has an easy life. The word "set" has over a hundred different meanings.

I will continue to call a four-wheel cycle a quadricycle or a quad. It can never be a "quad bike"

The word set has multiple meaning in poker, and it is pretty interesting.

Originally, you could have "a set of trips", or "a set of quads/fours", which means three of a kind or four of a kind respectively. The term is typically used in Texas Hold'em, and this is how it was used back in the 1970's. More recently, a set came to mean only three of a kind. Some folks further define it to be a pair in your hand with the third on the board, while others consider that usage as well as one in the hand and two on the board.

There are a lot of other interesting linguistic tidbits revolving around poker. For example, "pass the buck", was a poker phrase back when they used to use a dealers button made from buckskin or some other part of a buck. The "buck" signified whose turn it was to deal, and thus after each hand you would "pass the buck".

Is a pedicab one that gives its occupants pediculosis?

Last Tuesday I was in London, standing at the bottom of Shaftesbury avenue waiting for a bus, and saw several pedicabs/bicycle rickshaws/trishaws/call them what you will go past. So they are obviously becoming part of London's transport infrastructure.

What I don't know is how, if at all, they are regulated. London's traditional Black Cabs are very heavily regulated about what they can charge, and the levels of skill and knowledge the drivers must have.