Name ten common, non-slang three-letter words for vehicles.

Additional material

[ Editor: from a November 1997 rec.puzzles thread "Simple but annoying
3 letter puzzle". ]

Tony Pearson <pearson66@aol.com> wrote:
>How many 3 letter words are forms of transport for humans ?

Some of the following have already been suggested by other posters,
but here's my list (mainly culled from /usr/dict/words).  When I found
two interpretations for one word I listed both (in case you reject one
of them) but labeled them [1] and [2] to assist in counting.

Things that are commonly regarded as vehicles:
  bus, cab, car, jet, sub (submarine), tug (tugboat), van, uni (unicycle)
  ark (Noah's ark)
  bug (the Volkswagen "beetle")
  gig (a kind of rowboat, or a kind of horse-drawn carriage)
  rig [1] (a tractor-trailer rig)
  rod (as in, a hot rod---though I'm not sure "rod" is ever used by
       itself)

Proper names for vehicles:
  Geo, Jag (Jaguar), Hog [1] (Harley motorcycle), Ram [1] (Dodge truck)
  Cat [1] (Caterpillar tractor)

Other things you can use to get somewhere:
  cot (if someone carries it)
  gun [1] (you can ride on a field artillery piece, or drive a
           self-propelled gun; or you can be a "human cannonball")
  log (you can ride down a river on one)
  leg, oar, ski (part of a pair, or used by itself)
  ivy (if you're Tarzan, perhaps; I admit this one is a bit of a
       stretch)
  fly, row, run (unfortunately these are verbs)
  rig [2] (the rigging of a sailing ship; again I admit this is a
           stretch)
  bow (Ringling Bros. are now advertizing Tatyana, the Human Arrow)

Fictional vehicles:
  bed (in the book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks)
  gun [2] (to travel to the moon in a Jules Verne story)
  mat, rug (the flying one used by Aladdin)

Animals that I believe people commonly have ridden on:
  ass, cow, nag (horse)

Other animals that might be ridden on (some of these are remotely
plausible only if the passenger is as small as a child, but for example
I've read a folk tale in which a woman travels astride a goat):
  doe, elk, gnu, yak
  ewe, ram [2], kid
  cur, dog, Lab (Labrador retriever), pet
  hog [2], pig, sow

Good luck if you can get one of these animals to carry you somewhere:
  ape, cat [2] (a big one, such as a lion)

Some terms are often used for for modes of travel using the named
media:
  air ("by air" means one flies), sea ("by sea")
  sky (as in, "Fly the friendly skies")
  ice (though I can't actually recall any actual use of the phrase "by
       ice")

Other things a human might ride in or on:
  bag, bay (cargo bay), box (a freight railroad car, or part of a
  truck)
  hay (the ever-popular hay ride)
  arm, hip, lap (if you're a small child)

If you ride an animal, their means of transport is your means:
  fin (of a dolphin), paw [1]

The following are not English words:
  Rad (German, bicycle), Zug (German, train)

Another way to travel is to be carried by another person:
  abo (Australian aborigine), ace (fighter pilot)
  boy, bum, cop, cox (coxswain), dad, don (Oxford don)
  fan (sports fan), fed (FBI agent), foe, Hun, Jew, lad, man, men, mob
  maw (mother), paw [2] (father)
  nun, nut (crazy person), oaf, pal, spy
  tar (sailor), tot (child), vet (veteran or veterinarian)

And one might be carried by any of the following named people:
  Abe, Ada, Ali, Amy, Ann, Ari, Ben, Bob, Cal, Dan, Dee, Del, Des, Dot
  Eli, Eva, Eve, Flo, Gil, Gus, Hal, Ian, Ida, Ike, Ira
  Jan, Jed, Jim, Joe, Jon, Kay, Ken, Kim, Len, Leo, Lev, Lew, Liz, Lou
  Mac, Mae, Mao, Max, Meg, Mel, Moe, Nan, Nat, Ned, Pam
  Rex, Rob, Ron, Roy, Sal, Sam, Stu, Ted, Tim, Tom, Uri, Zoe

The following may transport you, but only in spirit:
  ale, gin, pot, rum, rye
  cup, jug, keg, mug, pub (means of getting ale, gin, etc.)
  art, awe, joy, ode
  Zen ?

-- David A. Karr <karr@world.std.com>

>The following are not English words:
>  Rad (German, bicycle), Zug (German, train)

Some Dutch words:

jol, aak, ark   (different kind of schips/boats)
kar             (cart)
bal             (ball, as acrobats sometimes do)
daf, bmw        (different types of cars)
wip             (seesaw)
weg             (road)
pad             (path)
een, zes, elf   (one, six, eleven - road numbers)
tol             (toll road/turnpike)
hit, koe        (cob, cow)
ton             (cask/barrel, using it as a make shift boat)

(I'll leave out the farfetched animals and the proper names)

-- Abigail <abigail@fnx.com>

And there would be 'Lok', short for 'Lokomotive', also German.

-- Curd Reinert <ecreiner@informatik.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE>

Could we compile the definitive list of these?  I think I missed some
posts but so far we have the following:

1) Most would agree on these:
ark ass bus cab car cow jet jog row run ski sub tow tug van yak rig nag
leg

2) If you allow acronyms then:
BMW MIG TWA
(I'm sure there are many others)

3) If you allow Intoxicants then:
pot LSD rum rye gin ale

4) Abreviations:
Jag

5) Animals.  The trouble here is where do you draw the line?  Most
people would agree that a Yak is a possible form of transport but what
about an Ant?

dog cat ant ape bat bee boa bug cod cub doe eel elk ewe fly fox gnu hen
hog kid owl pet pig pup ram rat ray sow

Here are some dubious additions that I came up with:

air (as in "I'm going by air")
sea (as for "air")
arm (if you allow "leg" then disabled people might insist on "arm" too)
bag (body bag)
bed (when put on wheels like in the open credits of "The Monkeys")
box (as in coffin?)
boy (when taking a rickshaw you might say "Lets take the boy")
fly (as in "I'm going to fly")
log (floating down the river on)
men (enough of them)
rug (flying carpet?)
tub (fond name for an old boat)

-- Aaron Kotcheff <aaron@cre.canon.co.uk>

> 1) Most would agree on these:
> ark ass bus cab car cow jet jog row run ski sub tow tug van yak rig
> nag leg

I would exclude "jog", "row", and "run", which are verbs, not forms of
transport.

> 2) If you allow acronyms then:
> BMW MIG TWA
> (I'm sure there are many others)

I wouldn't count TWA, since you don't ride the company, but a TWA
airplane.  (In contrast, you do talk about driving a BMW.)

> 4) Abreviations:
> Jag

Also Cat (a Caterpillar(TM) tractor)

> 5) Animals.  The trouble here is where do you draw the line?

Some of these are not ridable at all.  It might be possible to be
carried by an ape or ride a pig, but I can't imagine riding a cod or a
bee.

I would allow "pet" in category 1, as long as you can have a pet horse.

> boy (when taking a rickshaw you might say "Lets take the boy")

> men (enough of them)

This is quite reasonable; men do often carry each other.  When I visit
my cousin, I expect him to be transported by man (his father).

> tub (fond name for an old boat)

Or in the Annual Nanaimo-Vancouver Bathtub race.  [Editor:
"Nanaiamo" in the original]

-- David Grabiner <grabiner@math.lsa.umich.edu>