A quick question. Which one would be more idiomatic to say? To flag down a taxi or to flag a taxi down? Or does it matter? Comments are welcome.
Hi Comsci,comsci said:A quick question. Which one would be more idiomatic to say? To flag down a taxi or to flag a taxi down? Or does it matter? Comments are welcome.
comsci said:http://www.multiplay.co.uk/columns.asp?m=view&id=135&uid=29
If you search for the word "down", you'd find another example stating "flag a taxi/cab down." I wonder why this has been the way it is.![]()
Just my guess, but taxis have/had a small flag on their meter. When a passenger entered the taxi the flag would be pushed down engaging the meter and signalling to other would be customers that the taxi was occupied. The flag, I suspect, may have originally been real - a piece of cloth on a stick, that was used to show availability. When you "flag" the taxi "down", you are using the taxi.comsci said:http://www.multiplay.co.uk/columns.asp?m=view&id=135&uid=29
If you search for the word "down", you'd find another example stating "flag a taxi/cab down." I wonder why this has been the way it is.![]()
Flags are still used by traffic cops in some cities of the world today. When the flag is help up (upright above the head) the cars are free to move. When the flag is held down (extended at a right angle from the body) the cars must stop.mariposita said:Either of the flag down examples sounds fine to me, though I usually say I'm going to grab a cab.
For panjandrum:
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
flag down Signal to stop, as in The police were flagging down all cars. This expression uses the verb flag in the sense of "catch the attention of, as by waving a flag," a usage dating from the mid-1800s; down was added in the first half of the 1900s.
panjandrum said:Once upon a time we would hail a taxi.
Yes, I think so. Otherwise we'd say "I tried three times to flag down a taxi, but the drivers didn't stop."Does 'flag down' imply that a vehicle stops? In other words, if you flag down a taxi, does it always mean it stopped?