Not sure why they are called towboats as they seldom tow anything, but push barges up and down rivers and canals. Perhaps it is because a number of barges lashed together are called a tow?
In German there is a distinction between towboat and push boat – depending on where the floats are attached – if you tow or push ;-)
– one of the things where every dictionary simply fails.
My web search (yes, we all use it) said that they are called towboats because of 18th Century tradition when horses were used to tow barges on canals. German has always been a language good at describing technical items.
Ah, that makes sense, yes. We still have the paths where the horses went – it’s called “Treidelpfad”, i.e. tow path. “Treidel” seems to have some relation to the English “trail”.
Nowadays these of course are hiking paths.
And for those of us who are two tired, they are bike paths or bike trails. If I’m not careful, I might learn a few German words from you.
Yes, a good book, an easy chair, warm weather, and the deck of a working boat on a canal. That is just my kind of thing.
Ah yes, what more?
I wanted to give you some more information but lost myself in articles … right now I am wondering about this (Wikipedia)
“A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats.” I should be called a pushboat, shouldn’t it?
“Outside the USA towboats are usually referred to as “push boats” or “pushers”.”
Aha.
Not sure why they are called towboats as they seldom tow anything, but push barges up and down rivers and canals. Perhaps it is because a number of barges lashed together are called a tow?
In German there is a distinction between towboat and push boat – depending on where the floats are attached – if you tow or push ;-)
– one of the things where every dictionary simply fails.
My web search (yes, we all use it) said that they are called towboats because of 18th Century tradition when horses were used to tow barges on canals. German has always been a language good at describing technical items.
Ah, that makes sense, yes. We still have the paths where the horses went – it’s called “Treidelpfad”, i.e. tow path. “Treidel” seems to have some relation to the English “trail”.
Nowadays these of course are hiking paths.
And for those of us who are two tired, they are bike paths or bike trails. If I’m not careful, I might learn a few German words from you.