CaBi is a confusing name

[KLizotte]

Hmm, when writing I use “CaBi” but when speaking with people I say “bikeshare” especially if they are non-bikey people. I’ve never heard anyone here refer to a cab/taxi as a “cabby” or “cabbi” – must be a NY thing.

[jrenaut]

@KLizotte 42648 wrote:

Hmm, when writing I use “CaBi” but when speaking with people I say “bikeshare” especially if they are non-bikey people. I’ve never heard anyone refer to a cab/taxi as a “cabby” or “cabbi” – must be NY thing.

Yeah, this.

[americancyclo]

@KLizotte 42648 wrote:

must be a NY thing.

Um, no.
I didn’t see any indication the OP was from NY. Never heard that in SF either.

In my experience, a “cabbie” is the driver of a cab. Never heard anyone say, “catch a cabbie” or “split a cabbie”
I think that even though DC is a transient place, those that do come here often speak in a jargon and CaBi may become one of those terms.

[KLizotte]

@americancyclo 42652 wrote:

Um, no.
I didn’t see any indication the OP was from NY. Never heard that in SF either.

In my experience, a “cabbie” is the driver of a cab. Never heard anyone say, “catch a cabbie” or “split a cabbie”
I think that even though DC is a transient place, those that do come here often speak in a jargon and CaBi may become one of those terms.

I stand corrected. I have no idea why I thought the OP referred to being from NYC. I can only blame low sugar since I was *dying* of starvation while waiting for dinner to finish cooking. It was late!

[mstone]

@americancyclo 42652 wrote:

Never heard anyone say, “catch a cabbie” or “split a cabbie”

That comes after “cabbie cheated him and punched him in the face”

[ColumbiaHeights]

Type “cabbie” into Google Images and you get a bunch of photos of yellow taxis. I’m from New Jersey. In the NYC area “cabbie” tends to refer to the driver more so than the actual taxi. “Cab” is commonly used to refer to a taxi. When apartment searching in DC I spoke to a guy renting out his apartment. He mentioned something about “cabbie” as one way of getting around in DC. Over the course of the conversation he mentioned that he had a bikeshare membership. I still don’t know if the “cabbie” he was referring to was bikeshare or taxis. I think he was from NC.

[americancyclo]

@ColumbiaHeights 42659 wrote:

He mentioned something about “cabbie” as one way of getting around in DC. … I still don’t know if the “cabbie” he was referring to was bikeshare or taxis. I think he was from NC.

My guess is that he was referring to CaBi. They are a lot easier to find in DC than an actual taxi.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

[mstone]

I don’t think you can get away with saying “cabbie” to refer to the actual vehicle unless you’re a four-year-old girl. Cf. “horsey” or “doggie”.

[PotomacCyclist]

i don’t think this is a major problem. When I speak about Capital Bikeshare (which is fairly often), I always start out by calling it Capital Bikeshare. After a couple references, I will point out that CaBi is a common abbreviation. Then I start alternating between saying CaBi and bikeshare and Capital Bikeshare. I would never just tell someone to go to the CaBi station, because I know that doesn’t make any sense. The same way that I don’t refer to other items by abbreviations that are likely to cause confusion.

I would suggest that people say Capital Bikeshare or bikeshare station when speaking to people who probably aren’t familiar with the system. But in other cases (when I know people understand the abbreviation), I mix in the CaBi abbreviation.

[Tim Kelley]

Some background on this, Cabi is not used frequently in official outreach from the program. Check the website, you won’t find it often. It’s more marketing slang that popped up organically when the system launched back in 2009.

And I know some people who pronounce it “Cab-buy” like the “buy” sound in Bikeshare.

[Author]

Posts