Non nativespeaker having a question

[Flyingfish2019]

When I say “I am riding“ is clear that I am riding horse or could I also be riding a car or a motorcycle?

‘Alight’ is an interesting word...

Americans talking about “riding” the bus. British speakers say they “took” the bus or “travelled” by bus.

There’s room for ambiguity if you say “I have been riding” but I would assume you meant you had been horse riding. If you want to say you were riding your motorcycle for fun (as opposed to riding it with the goal of getting to a particular destination, I think many native English speakers might use a more colloquial term such as “I took my motorbike for a spin”. Or they might say “I rode my motorbike up to [insert destination].”

@RuggerHug

If you're speaking to an Irish person it could be taken as you're having sex.

Exactly the words I had in my head 😂

Thinking The Commitments now ('Mr Burgess'!)

Flyingfish the Kipling etc is both old fashioned and trying to create a particular kind of speaker (probably a sort of posh fool). Nobody would say that nowadays or only as an affectation - either the order or 'says I'.

Oops, sorry I thought nobody would see the question because this thread has so many posts. So I asked twice. How would you say? Only “I said to myself“, wouldn’t you?

If I said I was going riding, it would mean in a horse

But if I said I was going for for a ride, then it could be on horseback, on a pushbike or motorbike, on a skidoo, or in a car. And you would ride at a fairground (the usual noun for attractions is a ride)

You also might have a bus ride (though saying you ride the bus is more US than British useage), and people who need a lift might ask if you can give them a ride (though again that's more US than British)

And yes, sex. Queen's 'I want to ride my bicycle' wasn't about cycling

It could mean; horse, bike, motorcycle or sex to me honest.

What was the context?

f you're speaking to an Irish person it could be taken as you're having sex

Also in Scotland, or certainly the west coast.

And 'I Bike' usually means the speaker has a motorcycle/motorbike. But not always - you can usually tell by whether they are a middleaged man in leathers (leather protective gear) or one in lycra.

Threads like this make me so thankful to be a native English speaker!

I have literally never thought about the word ride more than I have in the last few minutes!

You can ride a bus, a train, a tram...

Dorothy L Sayers presents Lord Peter Wimsey in a very specific way. He uses language and mannerisms that make him sound posh and foolish so people don’t recognise him as an extremely intelligent detective. So I says to myself has an old fashioned sound to it

I would say...

You can go for a ride on a horse, motorcycle, bicycle, skateboard or scooter, boat, bus, plane or ship.

You can go for a ride in a car, van, truck, tank, submarine or helicopter.

Using ride as a verb, of the modes of transport mentioned you can only ride a horse, bicycle, motorcycle, skateboard or scooter.

If someone said they were going riding, then in the absence of any other information I'd think of horse riding.

If someone said they were going for a ride I'd be more likely to assume bicycle or motorcycle, but it could also be a horse.

It's interesting that this is so complex - it's obviously one of those rule sets native speakers take on board without ever thinking about it. I imagine the OP's confusion is similar to that I felt when someone told me that in Welsh, you "sing" (canu) some musical instruments, rather than "play" (chwarae) them.

Just ‘by’. Boat, tank, car, plane, bicycle, motorbike, submarine, skateboard.
I can’t think of any occasion when ‘by’ wouldn’t fit.
But then I think you probably have a very good grasp of English anyway.

Also Wimsey’s name is a play on words as a whimsy is something fanciful, playful etc.

I'm Irish and if you said you were riding my immediate thought would be sex😂😂

I'd say most things you can get on..ride a bike, horse, scooter, bus...

I shall remember that when I ever go to Ireland a d avoid the word like the plague.

@CasperGutman

I'm intrigued. Which instruments do you 'sing' and which do you 'play'?
Is it based on those you play with your mouth or hands?

British English speaker here. Agree that you can go FOR a ride in a car, but you don’t ride a car. Although I don’t think I’d ever say I was going for a ride; I’d be more likely to say that someone was giving me a lift. If I was driving, I would be going for a ride.

The subway has come up - Americans seem to talk about riding the subway, but Brits would never talk about riding the underground, or at least would sound very odd (even if you knew what the speaker meant).

You “travel on the underground”, or “take the tube”.

@Moonflower12

I didn't quite get my head around it, to be honest. I thought I'd figured out that it would be wind instruments that you "sang", but then it turned out you definitely sing the harp (canu'r delyn).

A submarine sails or dives, or goes to sea, and what it does thereafter is classified. Submarines are also referred to as being on patrol when they are away, unless they are on exercise, Perisher running, or doing work up, or CSST (Captain Submarine Sea Training).

You can ride a submarine if you are sent on board to do so for very specific tasks. It means you are there for a specific task and time, and are not normally part of the boats complement.

Is this also true for civilian submarines, like the ones used for science @scaryteacher?

I came to say exactly what @Elodie2019 did!

Going riding - I'd assume horse

Going for a ride - pushbike or motorbike

Honestly though reading this thread reminds me of this.....

aclassen.faculty.arizona.edu/content/english-language-crazy-inconsistencies

With no other context, riding is horses, cycling is bikes and weirdly bike ride or riding bikes is motorbikes.

In my head I mean, lol.

Apart from yes, sex, but not in so obvious a way that it’s the first thing I think of, or he’s a ride meaning he’s good looking... but that’s definitely an area thing.

Pretty much everything else I can think of is just going on - unless you’re the one actually driving whatever it is.