# Coach bus



## Linnets

How is called a long-distance bus in your language? In Italian it is called a _pullman_ (pronounced [ˈpulman]; a smaller one is a _pulmino _[pulˈmiːno]), a word that originally indicated railroad sleeping cars originally manufactured by the Pullman company, founded by the American engineer George Pullman.


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## Perseas

Greek: 
Πούλμαν [ˈpulman] is the pullman. But we often use the Greek word: λεωφορείο [leoforío].
Πουλμανάκι [pulma'naci] is the smaller one.


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## AndrasBP

Linnets said:


> In Italian it is called a _pullman_


"Pullman" is completely unknown in Hungary. It was really strange for me to hear this word used in Italy.

Hungarian doesn't make a distinction between coaches and buses: both are called "(autó)busz".


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## Ghabi

Linnets said:


> In Italian it is called a _pullman_


Interesting. When I google-image "pullman bus" they all look double-decker, can it also be single-decker?

Can you google-image 旅遊巴 (Cantonese, literally "travel bus") to see if they are the type you call "pullman" in Italian?


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## Penyafort

In Catalan, a long-distance one is an *autocar *while an *autobús *or *bus *is the general, short-distance or urban one. (There might be some few local variants too)

In Spanish, the variety of terms for the bus is huge depending on the country, so I'd recommend having a detailed look here. The word _pulman _apparently exist too in some varieties of Spanish for some comfortable coaches.


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## Linnets

Ghabi said:


> Interesting. When I google-image "pullman bus" they all look double-decker, can it also be single-decker?


In Italian _pullman_ can be a single-decker. A double decker is called (_auto_)_bus_/_pullman a due piani_.



Ghabi said:


> Can you google-image 旅遊巴 (Cantonese, literally "travel bus") to see if they are the type you call "pullman" in Italian?


Yes, they are.


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

Not very original, I'm afraid.

Those which run around towns and short distances: *bws* (formal word), *bỳs* (more informal word. Not the 'grave accent' to denote a short vowel.)

Those which travel long distances: *coets.

______________*

Here's a thing that @AndrasBP knows, but is too modest to share. The various words 'coach', 'coets' etc ultimately derive from the coach builders from Kocs in Hungary.


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## AndrasBP

Welsh_Sion said:


> Here's a thing that @AndrasBP knows, but is too modest to share.


I did share it in another thread about cars.


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## Yendred

Penyafort said:


> In Catalan, a long-distance one is an *autocar *while an *autobús *or *bus *is the general, short-distance or urban one.


As often, Catalan and French are close. 
It's the same in French: _car_ or _autocar_ for long-distance, and _bus_ or _autobus_ for short-distance (urban).


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## AutumnOwl

In Swedish a bus is _en buss_, regardless if it's long-distance or not, but you can say _långfärdsbuss_ (lång-distance bus) or _stadsbuss_ (city/urban bus) if/when you want to specify which you mean.
The _Cityterminalen_ in Stockholm is the main station for long-distance buses in the city, but you can take an ordinary (_stads_)_buss_ (city bus) from just outside the terminal for travelling in Stockholm.
_Jag ska ta bussen till Stockholm och sedan bussen till mamma. _
(I'm going to take the long-distance bus to Stockholm and then the city bus to mother.)


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## apmoy70

Perseas said:


> Greek:
> Πούλμαν [ˈpulman] is the pullman. But we often use the Greek word: λεωφορείο [leoforío].
> Πουλμανάκι [pulma'naci] is the smaller one.


Just wanted to add that the bus that connects major towns/cities in the Greek mainland or the larger islands, is called *«ΚΤΕΛ»* [ˈkte̞l] (neut.), which is the initialism for «*Κ*οινό *T*αμείο *Ε*ισπράξεων *Λ*εωφορείων» (Common Treasury of Bus Collection), a jointly-run bus company that operates and manages 104 local bus companies, one for each prefecture and larger island. The metonymy of «ΚΤΕΛ» for long-distance bus has prevailed so much, that we say "I'm taking the KTEL" instead of "I'm taking the bus" for long distance travels (from Athens to Patras for instance).


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## Kaoss

apmoy70 said:


> Just wanted to add that the bus that connects major towns/cities in the Greek mainland or the larger islands, is called *«ΚΤΕΛ»* [ˈkte̞l] (neut.), which is the initialism for «*Κ*οινό *T*αμείο *Ε*ισπράξεων *Λ*εωφορείων» (Common Treasury of Bus Collection), a jointly-run bus company that operates and manages 104 local bus companies, one for each prefecture and larger island. The metonymy of «ΚΤΕΛ» for long-distance bus has prevailed so much, that we say "I'm taking the KTEL" instead of "I'm taking the bus" for long distance travels (from Athens to Patras for instance).


You an hear something similar with ALSA in Spain for long distance buses. ALSA being the company that provides most long distance routes. But Autocar and (auto)bus, as in catalan or french, are more common.


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## merquiades

In the US people usually say "take the Greyhound."  Greyhound is the big nationwide bus company that goes to every small town across America.  There are competitors, but people say Greyhound because it is/has been the most famous. Everyone knows them and you see them on highways everywhere. The slogan was "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us."  It stuck. Pullman may have been an American engineer but he's been totally forgotten.


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## Welsh_Sion

How current is the expression in other languages, *charabanc *(*Cymricised *to '*siarabáng*' - the acute accented 'a' shows the stress pattern is irregular, being on the final syllable.) It has a certain 1920's and 1930's feel to it, but perhaps is not so current these days.

True story: A sign writer attempted to write 'No football coaches' in Welsh for a local hotel's car park. Unfortunately, s/he chose the wrong meaning of 'coach' ...


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## Yendred

Welsh_Sion said:


> How current is the expression in other languages, *charabanc*


I didn't know it. Apparently, it comes from French _char-à-bancs_ (literally “_carriage with benches_”).


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## Welsh_Sion

Would it not be even, "_a chariot/tank with benches_", @Yendred ?


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## Yendred

Well, originally it was horse-drawn, so we are far from a tank  
Charabanc | carriage

In its primary meaning, _char_ refers to an antique horse-drawn cart/chariot, like the one driven by Ben-Hur


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## Welsh_Sion

Oh, I agree - we can do without 'metallic horses' before the Great War. (I was only adding 'tank' as I'm sure there would be some pedant out there who would suggest I'd left it out as a translation of 'char' ...)

In another thread there is discussion that 'car' is a derived form from a Celtic word, hence 'char' and chariot'.

And we must pity those who confuse 'motor vehicles' with 'coaches' (French/English faux amis.) Although, Welsh will use 'cerbyd' for both!


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## Yendred

Welsh_Sion said:


> 'car' is a derived form from a Celtic word, hence 'char' and chariot'.


Yes indeed, all these words initially come from Gaulish _carros_ (chariot), borrowed by the Romans and derived into _carrus_.
Note that the French _carrosse_, although very similar to the Gaulish term, has gone through Latin _carrus_, then Italian _carro_ and _carrozza_.


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## AndrasBP

Welsh_Sion said:


> Cymricised


I like this word.
It sounds better than "Welshified".


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## Awwal12

As no one has mentioned the situation in Russian yet, it's междугородный автобус (mezhdugoródnyi avtóbus - lit. "interurban bus"), or, more formally,  автобус дальнего следования (avtóbus dál'nego slédovaniya, ~"far-travelling bus").


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

merquiades said:


> In the US people usually say "take the Greyhound."  Greyhound is the big nationwide bus company that goes to every small town across America.  There are competitors, but people say Greyhound because it is/has been the most famous. Everyone knows them and you see them on highways everywhere. The slogan was "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us."  It stuck. Pullman may have been an American enginmost Alericans wold say 'coach'eer but he's been totally forgotten.



Their biggest competitor is (or 'was'?) Trailways. 

I don't think many Americans say 'coach'.


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## merquiades

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> Their biggest competitor is (or 'was'?) Trailways.
> 
> I don't think many Americans say 'coach'.


No, _coach_ is more for airplanes.  Are you flying coach to Belarus tomorrow?

Yes, I've heard of Trailways and another company too.  Trailways is the one that is/was dirt cheap I think.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Yendred said:


> Well, originally it was horse-drawn, so we are far from a tank
> Charabanc | carriage
> 
> In its primary meaning, _char_ refers to an antique horse-drawn cart/chariot, like the one driven by Ben-Hur



In those days, they had the ancestors* of 'biker babes': 'charwomen'.
*'ancestresses'?


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## Ghabi

Awwal12 said:


> it's междугородный автобус


You mean it's already the colloquial word? Nothing shorter?


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## Awwal12

Ghabi said:


> You mean it's already the colloquial word? Nothing shorter?


Nope. After all, you can always call it just "bus" (автобус), as long as there's no actual need to specify.


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## Messquito

In Taiwan we say 客運(lit. passenger transport) for long-term service provided on a coach bus. For the "vehicle" itself I guess you would just say 巴士(transliteration of bus).

If you are referring to a private one that you book (usually along with a driver) for a tour you are going on, we say 遊覽車(lit. sight-seeing vehicle).


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