disembarked from the train - English Vocabulary - English (2024)

We disembarked from the train.

Is "disembarked" the correct word?

Thanks.

Disembarked is fine.

From TFD:
dis·em·bark (dĭs′ĕm-bärk′)
v. dis·em·barked, dis·em·bark·ing, dis·em·barks
v.intr.
To exit from a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.

It may be more common to hear "We got off the train."

mudbudda669

What happened? Are you angry over the word 'disembarked'?

"alighted" is an equally good word.

Koh - (I have no idea what Muddbudda's icon was about either, btw.)

I think what Wilmar & Drago are referring to here is another instance of "written word" and "spoken word".

As everyone agrees, both words are good words to describe the action of getting off a train. You'll find thousands of instances of them being used in books, articles, magazines, blogs everywhere.

But the fact that each said that people would say "got off" doesn't mean people might say it because they don't know any other word to use. We just wouldn't say to anyone "I've just disembarked from the train." it would be "I've just got off the train." And if one were to say they had just "alighted" from the train people would probably giggle because it does, really, sound funny.

Why? Because we use simpler language in spoken communication. But probably just because "got off" is only two syllables, and "disembark" is three!

Indeed! Someone "disembarking" from a train does so in clouds of steam, wearing a silk Chanel suit, a cloche hat pulled down to their eyebrows, and with a Ladies Maid hovering in the background supervising the transfer of enormous moroccan trunks and hat boxes.

Well, of course Waterloo is not as civilised as the Brighton line to Victoria.

On the other hand, fewer mislaid babies in handbags.

And no random Peruvian bears like at Paddington. I definitely think he disembarked.

Well no, of course we Brightonians would hate to be thought careless - so babies-in-Gladstones are no longer a feature of life here.

Though of course, in such a liberal city Peruvians of all shapes and sizes are welcome: but it's true we don't get many these days. However, Brighton folk being so unorthodox bears in red hats, or with yellow scarves and checked trousers simply blend into the crowd once the 4.50 from Paddington arrives.

Get on or off a barque.

You might think things have moved on since then - but maybe not if you use Southern Railway.

barque

noun
a sailing ship, typically with three masts, in which the foremast and mainmast are square-rigged and the mizzenmast is rigged fore and aft.
LITERARY
a boat.

at least 'deplane' hasn't spread to other means of transport. Uhh. Nobody 'detrains' yet.

People will say 'get off the train' and the conductor will say 'alight at the station'. Because they have more class.

Tautophile -

I have only ever come across "alit" as the past tense of "alight" in it's other meaning of "burning". "With candles all alit" doesn't mean the candles "get down" from their holders, but that they were burning.

I went over to Online Etymology and you're right - it does attribute "alit" to the verb form of "alight". But "to light" is also a verb in reference to candles etc. meaning "to cause to burn" i.e. the ACTION of lighting a candle. So I think their example is a little confusing.

If to disembark is to get off a barque, is to alight to get off a lighter?

The etymology given for 'to alight' seems very lacking!

'light' then of course gives you all sorts of illumination before you light on this

So in that sense, if you are using that match, it does work as 'alit' - I lit on a great idea - not lighted.

but that disagrees with 'get off, make the load lighter'

I don't buy that. The idea of

a horse is not concerned with the poor horse - it is concerned with getting off so you can go in a door, or walk around. For baggage, yes, I might see it, but for a person - that 'lightening' seems the least important part of the process (except to the relieved horse!).

Hmmm - the etymology for a lighter as a boat seems to be lightening the load. Still not so convinced about the horse. And that doesn't explain why the wiktionary version thinks it means dismount.

Hi tautophile - possibly even more archaic than you think.

'Way back (I think it's a hang-over from Old English into early Middle English, but not too certain) there were a lot more inflections.
One of them which has survived in a couple of

songs/poems in outlying dialects is "y-" before some verbs making a participle.

Sommer is ycomen in and winter is gone away-o - note the perfect using "be".
Summer has arrived and winter has gone away. (The "O" is just for rhyme and rhythm)
(Cornish May-day carol) May-day was the first day of the summer season (as Hallows - 1st of November - was the first day of the winter season). So it's really "Summer is here."

This is not the thirteenth-century "Cuckoo Song" - Sumer is Icumen in.

I suspect that this is related to the poetic (now) "a-" (a-hunting, etc) and the adjectivals formed from some verbs - asleep, awake - but not the adjectivals made from nouns - a-horse, ashore.

Another example is the hymn Adam lay ybounden.

The y- corresponds to the German prefix ge- in past participles.

Thanks for mentioning this, Thar, I had never heard about this impressive project.

Seems it was shelved quite a while ago, this is what Wikipedia has to say:
While most sections of the Cape to Cairo railway were eventually built, a major part is missing between Sudan and Uganda.[1] In the early 21st century, many parts of the railway are in minimal operation due to poor track conditions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_to_Cairo_Railway

That's right, Kirill, and the phrase "Cape to Cairo" has become idiomatic too. When I lived in Africa one would say things like: "There's no potatoes to be had from Cape to Cairo this week". "I'd walk from Cape to Cairo to see The Cat Empire in concert."

The thing was, the idea was conceived during the Great Days of luxury train travel -lots of books (especially Agatha Christie books) were set in this period and made into films.

So that's why Thar and I were rabbitting on about maids & "trunks" (luggage). And, why he said "disembark" nowadays isn't used about train travel - which is a scramble and crowded and rather stressfull.

But the word (as in those old books and movies) was fitting back in those days as wealthy, well-dressed people slowly descended and posed in their beautiful clothes, accompanied by maids, valets, tons of (matching) luggage, scurrying porters etc.

Thank you for quoting my spelling mistake (just kidding).

Or that most egregious fashion faux pas - The Man in the Brown Suit.

Ah, those were the days. Couldn't board a train without witnessing at least one murder, but at least you travelled in style.

Although 'orient' always seemed a bit of a con to me. It should go to China a least with a name like that!

I was always more a fan of the Stamboul Train.
(Ostend to Istanbul)

Wow - just did a search and found that was renamed The Orient Express in the US.

But it sort of fits in with the other book renaming I found yesterday? On the word trivia for 'tide' I posted the Shakespeare quote and the Christie novel title 'Taken at the flood". That was renamed 'There is a tide' for the American market. But at least that is the same quote.

Makes me wonder - if they renamed Greene's Stamboul Train as The Orient Express, what did they call Christie's book? Ah - that was originally called Murder in the Calais Coach in the US
And what the heck is wrong with Stamboul Train?
I can understand renaming 'Taken at the Flood'. People might think it was about Noah's Ark.

Thar - Everyone who has ever had a book published a book in America, or a play performed, will tell tales of what sometimes appears, to them, as completely arbitrary title changes! Some appear hilarious - or ridiculous - to us, but hey, no-one ever said America doesn't know best what suits America.