"drunk riding"

[Mark Mandel]

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:29 PM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote
[quoting Jon Lightner]:
>
> >The real question remains: regardless of how much more idiomatic "ride a
> >motorcycle" may be, is there a significant number of people inane enough
to
> >believe that "drunk driving" laws do not apply - or could be argued in
> >court not to apply - to motorcyclists?
>
> I don't think that is the real question at all, being obvious and all. I
> thought we were just discussing terminology, idioms and usage. I know that
> I, at least, was discussing terminology, idioms and usage. Ride just
doesn't
> always mean you are the passenger, is all. If you are riding a horse, it
> doesn't mean you're propped on the rear end behind the driver...
> DAD

ISTM that real-world effects of language use, including the way people are
likely to understand an expression, are very much on-topic for this
discussion list.

m a m

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org