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Can someone please explain to me how a person who designs and builds bridges and person who opperates a train is the same thing?

G00GLE · 22-25, M
Engine and Engineer come from the same latin word "ingenium"

Maybe Americans went like "Hunter hunts. Driver drives. Builder builds. So engine man on big train must be engineer. Let's have a civil war or whatever lol"
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
Same way a chemist and a physicist are both scientists.
MethDozer · M
@DeWayfarer Well etymology is historical fact. It is a fact the root word of engineer is Ingenium and not onager
MethDozer · M
@DeWayfarer Etymologist
Profession
/ˌet.ɪˈmɒl.ə.dʒɪst/ a person who studies the origin and [b]history[/b] of words: He was known as an etymologist as well as for his poetry. The task of our etymologist is to determine the earliest recorded occurrence of a word.
This message was deleted by its author.
AdaXI · 41-45, T
Ahhh I see what you mean a train engineer is an 'engineer' because he drives a train 'engine' sort of thing, yeah it is a bit weird.
乂ᴼ◡ᴼ乂
adorbz · 26-30, F
I mean I suppose someone could change careers 😅 but other than that 🤔🤔 I have no idea what you mean
MethDozer · M
@adorbz Exactly my point.

I mean it is weird how most engineers don't actually do anything at all with engines. So in a sense it makes more sense to call the train dude an engineer but at the same time the word was already taken.
adorbz · 26-30, F
@MethDozer just wait til we get onto social engineering
MethDozer · M
@adorbz It's an evil activity by nature but can be fun sometimes.
SW-User
Sure. It all comes down to the Railroad Union bullshit. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen created the term Engineer as a way for them to command a higher salary.

Structural Engineers design and build bridges.
MethDozer · M
@SW-User Oh nice, this actually makes a lot of sense then if true and it does sound like something Americans at the time would pull.
SW-User
@MethDozer Thanks. I made it up. 😂
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
They’re both Engineers
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
@MethDozer because there’s different types to engineering
MethDozer · M
@TurtlePink But they aren't engineering anything. They are operating a train.
TurtlePink · 22-25, F
@MethDozer you’re right, that is strange. Maybe because a train is more of an engine and so they personalized it by calling the driver an engineer
Architects drive trains now and drivers build bridges?
MethDozer · M
@NerdyPotato engineers
HannahSky · F
Someone has to drive that train 🚂
Different types of engineers , just as there's different types of doctors .
You can have :
Electrical engineers
Architectural engineers
Mechanical engineers
Environmental engineers...

.
The list lost goes on.
MethDozer · M
@AdaXI No. It's two totally different professions and skill sets actually. There is some crossover but also distinct differences.

Sort like how a chemistry and a chemical engineer are two completely different but hmyet similar occupations and skill sets and one doesn't usually make a good other and vice versa.
AdaXI · 41-45, T
@MethDozer Well that's fair enough. Like I say I didn't really know but it would of kind of made some sort of sense.
乂^◡^乂
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ninalanyon · 61-69, T
In countries other than the US and Canada someone who drives a train is called a train driver or engine driver, lokfører or lokomotivfører in Norwegian So they aren't the same thing.
SubstantialKick · 31-35, M
Good question. You would have to go way back to when the term "train engineer" first came about. Train [b]operator[/b] actually makes more sense when you think about it.
exexec · 61-69, C
I was really disappointed when I got my engineering degree and they never let me even see a train the entire four years.
PhaqueYou · M
Terminology
MethDozer · M
@PhaqueYou Yes terminology but what is the logic of this nonsense?
iamonfire696 · 41-45, F
We call them a Conductor in Canada
MethDozer · M
@iamonfire696 Not quite. A conductor doesn't drive the train. The Conductor is in charge of the train. It's like the captain on a ship. People think the Captain steers the ship but hw doesn't. The helmsman/coxswain does. Engineer is both a US and Canadian term for the person actually driving it. The conductor is the person in charge of the entire operation though. His job is operation and saftey.

 
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