Talk:Trolley boat

Naming

(I think: if it's spelled Trolleybus it should also be spelled trolleyboat, or should have at least been discussed on the Talk Page! Anyway it doesn't make sense to spell the lemma differently than the word(s) in the text.)

What you think doesn't matter here, nor what I think, what matters is usage. Leaving aside "Trolleybus's" own etymological weaknesses, the fact that a word has a parallel doesn't mean that it follows that pattern. English often combines words used together, but that's a much weaker trend than in German. Hawley appears to have never used "trolley" himself, possibly because "Hawley trolley" sounds risible, and most description emphasized the power source and the propulsion type equally. "Electric chain boat", and so forth. There were chain ferried, electric mules, etc used as well, as I believe you know. The term was also used for wire-guided ferry boats, some only powered by poles, or the stream i.e. a flying ferry, and it was also used for "cable trams" which went above the water. But it doesn't seem to show as a single word, excet in one recent electric transportation foamer website. Anmccaff (talk) 22:05, 13 January 2016 (UTC)