Shimbleshanks
Member
Our smallest cat was tearing about the house like a mad thing yesterday when my French missus referred to her as "a Micheline". The Micheline being a rubber-tyred railcar promoted by the tyre company in the 1930s.
As my Missus is one of the least rail-enthusiastic persons I know (despite, or possibly because of having lived with me for 30-odd years) that immediately raised my eyebrows. I said: "How come you know that term?" She said: "It's because the Micheline was a small train that went very fast. We say it about anything small that rushes about in France."
Can anyone else think of a relatively obscure railway term that has passed into common usage in this way, in any language? I know the French also refer to anything or anyone that rushes about as "le TGV" though the TGV is of course current and high profile. Brits in general don't after all call a person that makes a lot of noise and emits a huge cloud of hot air a 'Deltic'. Or someone who is always grumbling to themselves and coughing a DMU.
As my Missus is one of the least rail-enthusiastic persons I know (despite, or possibly because of having lived with me for 30-odd years) that immediately raised my eyebrows. I said: "How come you know that term?" She said: "It's because the Micheline was a small train that went very fast. We say it about anything small that rushes about in France."
Can anyone else think of a relatively obscure railway term that has passed into common usage in this way, in any language? I know the French also refer to anything or anyone that rushes about as "le TGV" though the TGV is of course current and high profile. Brits in general don't after all call a person that makes a lot of noise and emits a huge cloud of hot air a 'Deltic'. Or someone who is always grumbling to themselves and coughing a DMU.