Talk:Car (disambiguation)

What is the fastest car in the world?

I don't know but I'd like to know where it is at all times!! Vehicle Tracking solutions in the UK

Those two statements are incompatible. You can know the velocity of a car, or its location, but you can't know both. Stev0 14:11, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

True or false??

True or false: this article belongs at Car (disambiguation) with Car being a re-direct to Automobile. (This will not change the title of Automobile.) 66.245.99.94 22:51, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I'd say true. The only realistic candidates for disambig are "railroad car" and "boxcar", and those have specific articles. The generic meaning of "passenger carriage" is unlikely to be linked to as "car". I'm going to go ahead and do it; hang on to your seatbelts and let's hope I don't mess it up. JRM 16:50, 2004 Dec 3 (UTC)

I agree. One user continually removes this redirect. I will try to engage him on his talk page. --Squid S K ^(1MC^•^log) 02:16, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Links/comments

JD {{subst:unsigned}}

Cars / Car

These should be two separate disambiguation pages. Personally, I think if someone is looking up "Cars", they are likely looking for the recent movie, and should get it, with a disambig note at the top of that article. 68.218.170.137 07:08, 12 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

They should do that! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.18.226.193 (talk) 05:34, 8 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I also agree. --Esprix (talk) 05:14, 25 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the meantime, I changed "cars" to redirect to "Cars (film)" (instead of "automobile") with a redirect note to see "car (disambiguation)." --Esprix (talk) 05:22, 25 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed Merger

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with CAR. (Discuss)

Support/Merge - I support the merger
Support/Merge - I agree. While the word "car" and the acronym "CAR" are obviously completely different, their distinction on the wikipecia is merely in capitalization, which is too subtle for most users. Since both entries have disambiguation pages anyway, the pages should be merged into one disambiguation page. 24.27.9.13 18:47, 24 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Support/Merge - I agree. It will be a rather long DAB page, however. --Dan Leveille^TALK 10:40, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The various senses of "car" over the centuries

Is there anyone out there who can tell me the difference between a car and an automobile and if not, how automobile came to be called car. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.169.113.30 (talk) 19:13, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! A great question. Answer: The word "car" has various senses, one of which is synonymous with "automobile". It has to do with the fact that the word "car" predates the existence of automobiles. The word and its earlier cognates have referred to wheeled conveyances (such as carts and carriages) going all the way back into Latin, many centuries ago. (You can verify that in AHD4 and other dictionaries.) When railroads came along, the individual cars were naturally called "cars"—that is, the existing word was extended logically to this latest type of wheeled conveyance. When automobiles came about, the word was again extended logically to this latest type of wheeled conveyance. By the way, the same sort of process happened with the word "truck". It predates the existence of motor trucks, that is, what we today often call simply "trucks" (or "lorries"). This is why railroad trucks, hand trucks, and pickup trucks share a common name element. They are rather different objects, but they share the underlying theme of a wheeled tool for carrying things. The general principle is that as new technologies evolve, humans tend to name them with logical extensions of existing words rather than entirely new words. That fact also drives retronymy, as existing objects find themselves in need of new names (which are supplied by adding adjectives onto the old names). This system of nomenclature is not the best that could be designed, but it is the default mechanism of natural languages. Hope this has been helpful. — ¾-10 03:07, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to me (as a non-American) that "automobile", never a common term outside North America, is also being used less and less in the United States in favour of "car". To me it already seems anachronistic (and parochial) that "Car" redirects to "Automobile" rather than vice versa. Steve Graham (talk) 15:55, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

cars

"Car"