opalescentWhy words like 'okay' and 'taxi' are universally understood across the world but survival related ones like 'help', 'water', 'food' remained nation specific?
From learning a new language, one thing I noticed is that the more modern the word, the more likely it will be the same or similar in your own language. Thus computer is very close across many languages where as help can be quite different. I think taxi would be a very new concept. Ok. That might just be due to the word being so simple thus it was adopted fast. Much like we nod for yes.
Not an expert but just an observation I had found interesting.
A taxi isn’t a new concept. Hiring someone to drive you is probably one of the oldest concepts in civilization. All these words are used in conversations during work. If someone wants to pay you money, usually you just use whatever words they want.
If you are a taxi driver or restaurant owner, “taxi” or “cola” mean money to you. You learn quickly that way.
scryptoldest concepts in civilization? when the first steam powered automotive capable of human transportation was in 1769? and didn’t really gain popularity or actual usage until the 1800s?
i mean yeah that’s near the beginning of the US and also around the time other western countries gained freedom from european slave rule (haiti, 1804; mexico 1821; DR 1844; Canada 1867, but not adopting full legal freedom until 1900s). but for the most part, most every civilization is hundreds if not thousands of years older.
you know what’s an older concept than taxi? water. or help.
If you think an engine is required to drive someone around for money, I can’t help you.
Sure, carriages and stagecoaches existed. Rickshaws too for that matter, depending where you were in the world.
We also called them carriages, stagecoaches, and rickshaws, not taxis.
There were also handsom cabs, but I don’t know if they used taximeters before they became electric in 1897, as they are not referred to as ‘taxis’ until 1897. The modern taximeter was invented in 1891, but the first taxicab to be equipped with it was in 1897 (and it was gas powered, not electric).
The ‘taxi’ part in taxicab doesn’t refer to driving someone around, btw. It refers to the meter used to derive how much you pay. Nowadays, we would use it to to refer to someone driving you around though, because that’s how language changes.