Can a “Unicycle” Properly Be Called a “Bike”?

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hello.

Hi, who’s this?

My name is Kevin. I’m calling from Lakewood, California.

Hi, Kevin. Welcome to the program.

Hello.

Well, the other day, I was riding my unicycle through a long park on a bike path.

That was you?

That was me.

And there were a circle of young girls warming up for a soccer game.

And when I turned around, they were all kind of looking at me, and they were cheering, and one of them shouts out, I want your bike.

So I replied, cool, this is a bike you should want.

Okay, well, the term bike rubs a lot of unicyclists the wrong way. They think my unicycle is a unicycle, not a bike.

And this is actually the first time I’ve turned around to somebody and said, yeah, cool, it’s a bike.

And I acknowledged them, and the wave of energy continued instead of correcting them and putting out fire.

Right, sure, yeah, great.

So the question is kind of, I see bike as being one step removed from bicycle and not as exact as bicycle, and I think it has a little more wiggle room.

Now, I don’t know if it has enough wiggle room to fit a unicycle inside of it, but I don’t know.

I mean, I’m tolerant of it, first of all. It’s not a big deal.

I think it’s an easier way to express what they’re trying to say.

So you’re saying the problem is that a bicycle should only refer to a vehicle with two wheels, and you were riding a bicycle with one wheel, so it might not really be a bike?

Well, that’s the argument.

See, I’ve been discussing this online on a unicyclist forum called unicyclist.com. A lot of people have been sharing their opinions.

Now, me personally, I’m totally tolerant of somebody calling it a bike because I think it’s an already existing word.

I think it’s a little looser than bicycle already, and it’s one syllable instead of four.

And, I mean, there’s a dozen reasons to use it, even if it’s not perfect.

Kevin, far be it for me to incur the ire of the unicycle community. I would not want to be pelted with beanbags and clubs.

But you know what? I have a little bit of cred on this myself because I, too, ride a unicycle, Kevin.

She’s coming out, everyone.

Yes.

All right.

Yes. I mean, I haven’t done it in, oh, maybe decades, but there was a point in my life when I begged my parents day after day for a unicycle, and they finally gave me one, and I learned to ride it.

I was very, very, very bruised that summer.

It takes a long time. You really have to be dedicated to it, don’t you?

You do, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And I even rode one of those big ones, the six-foot-tall ones that they called giraffes.

Wow, yeah.

With the chain, I had to hold on to a basketball rim and have somebody put it under me.

Please tell me you have video. This could be the next YouTube sensation, right?

It could.

Kevin, I’m with you. I think bike is a perfectly fine word.

And you’re talking to somebody who really cares a lot about the etymology of words.

And, of course, bike is from bicycle, which is two circles, right? Two wheels.

So what do you call it for short?

A eunuch?

Yeah.

Well, we call it uni among ourselves.

Uni?

But I think that if you take it out of context, that’s a troublesome abbreviation.

Absolutely.

Yeah, and the dictionary definitions are pretty loose on this.

They mostly say things like a wheeled vehicle that’s powered by the foot or something like that.

Because you can have a bicycle.

Okay, which brings up another point, which I really hope you guys will attack.

Okay.

Because the first question is a little bit subjective, I would say.

Now, some people on there really object to a unicycle being described as a one-wheeled bicycle because they think that is an absolute contradiction in terms.

To me, that’s no more contradictory than saying Sunday night.

So you’ve reached the truth that Martha and I generally agree on, which is once a word has left its etymological root, it is free to do and become whatever it pleases, just like when children leave the home of their parents.

That was my theory.

Your bike now has a rich, flourishing life that part of it is disconnected from its root as a bicycle.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you would agree that bicycle and bike are not identical?

I would agree with that.

I think bike is more affectionate somehow.

If you do not want to be ostracized at the national unicycle conventions, I would recommend not calling it a bike.

No, I don’t really care. I’m me. I say what I want to say, and I say what I think, and it doesn’t matter.

You know, unicycles are the purest kind of rebel.

Yeah, I guess so.

That’s great. That’s a good quote.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, and I hope at least we made you feel better about your word choice.

Oh, sure. I feel good about it.

I just thought I’d run it by some educated and unbiased professionals.

And when are they coming? Let us know when you do that.

I don’t know when I’ll find them.

I thought I’d ask you in the meantime.

If we know any.

Thanks, dude. Appreciate it.

All right.

Okay.

Thanks a lot, you guys. Roll onward, unicyclists.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Are you a unicyclist? Drop us a line at words@waywordradio.org and tell us what you think about calling a unicycle a bike or not.

And you can give us a call, 877-929-9673, with any question you have about words, language, slang, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and so forth.