unfasten/undo/unbuckle your seatbelt

[Little_LIS]

Hello everybody,

I want to ask about the opposite of "Fasten your seat belts"

Can I say "Take off your seat belts" ?

Thanks in advance

 

[ewie]

Hello Dr.S. Well, strictly speaking the opposite of fasten your seat belt would be unfasten (or undo) your seat belt. The opposite of take off your seat belt would be put on your seat belt.

 

[spb]

Yes, you can say 'Take off your seat belts', or 'undo' or 'remove', but the clearest opposite to 'fasten' is 'unfasten'.

 

[Little_LIS]

Thanks guys

Actually, I didn't mean the literal opposite of the word

I meant after fastening your seat belt, you will take it off.

What are other terms you use other than take off ?

Sorry for being unclear

 

[GreenWhiteBlue]

You can't take off your seat belt unless you first unfasten it.

 

[ewie]

I might possibly use 'remove', Dr.S, if I was feeling rather formal. But in everyday language I would only use take off.

 

[TriglavNationalPark]

"Unbuckle your seat belt" seems idiomatic.

 

[Adge]

"Unbuckle your seat belt" seems idiomatic.

I buckle my seat belt, but I don't unbuckle it. I unhook it or undo it. Although thinking about it, I guess I don't make much sense.

 

[panjandrum]

Surely everyone has been paying attention to the airline safety announcements?
... seatbelt is fastened like this, adjusted like this, and unfastened like this.

Having unfastened it, you don't need to do anything else - there is no "taking off" action.

The same applies with car seat-belts. They are fastened and unfastened. I think I can remember hearing "Put on your seat-belt", but as with the seat-belt in the plane, I don't think I have come across the need for any kind of "take off" expression.

 

[Kevin Beach]

There used to be a TV public info advert in the UK, encouraging us all to wear seatbelts. It ended with the rhyme "Clunk-click every trip".

I've just realised that I tend to say "unclick" a seatbelt!

 

[Nymeria]

I buckle my seat belt, but I don't unbuckle it. I unhook it or undo it. Although thinking about it, I guess I don't make much sense.

I never unhook mine. I mostly unbuckle and sometimes undo or unfasten. I may also put on, and, less frequently, take off my seat belt.

 

[marie7771]

unbuckle or undo would be best.

 

[Rover_KE]

I might say 'I'm struggling to release my seat belt.'

Rover

 

[Wordsmyth]

There are a lot of words here that people use about car seat belts. But if, as I suspect, Dr.Susy's question is in an airline context, then panj's post #9 says it all : it's "unfasten".

In countless hours of airline travel, I have never been asked to take off, remove, unbuckle, unhook, undo, unclick or release my seat belt.

Ws

 

[takiakos76]

[Please note that this post and the following ones have been added to a previous thread on the same topic. DonnyB - moderator]
Hi!

Which of these variations sound natural in an everyday setting *in a car* :
"We're here, you can unbuckle/unfasten/undo/...? your seat belt now."

 

[Hermione Golightly]

I'd say 'undo' in both car and plane. Of course I have never been in a situation where I am telling other people what to do! They usually know, It's not that 'unfasten' is wrong.
On the other hand, I would use 'fasten' rather than 'do up'.

 

[dojibear]

In AE...

"Unbuckle" is correct, even if the airline steward (or stewardess) says "unfasten". The item that closes the seat belt (in a car or in an airplane) is called a "buckle". So "unbuckle" is correct, and "unfasten" is correct. But "undo" is clearly understood, so all 3 words are acceptable in AE.

We do not "put on" or "take off" seat belts. They are permanently attached to the seats: you cannot "wear" them. We only "put on" and "take off" things that we wear.

Sometimes safety commercials will use "wear", in phrases like "Always wear a seat belt while driving" but that is stretching the meaning of "wear".

 

[takiakos76]

In AE...

"Unbuckle" is correct, even if the airline steward (or stewardess) says "unfasten". The item that closes the seat belt (in a car or in an airplane) is called a "buckle". So "unbuckle" is correct, and "unfasten" is correct. But "undo" is clearly understood, so all 3 words are acceptable in AE.

1. Does this apply now to both cars and airplanes equally?
2. Doesn't "Don't unfasten your seatbelt" sound too formal in a car in an everyday context? (Like a parent saying that to their kid.)

 

[kentix]

I don't know, Dojibear. I'm pretty certain I've heard plenty of parents saying "Put your seatbelt on or we're not moving!" or something similar. Or even a driver speaking to adults in the back seat "Does everybody have their seatbelts on?"

 

[dojibear]

Good point, kentix. This is not a topic where exact words are used.

Can I say "Take off your seat belts" ?

How about "off"?

 

[Hermione Golightly]

We don't 'take seat belts off'. We 'undo' them.