What kind of vehicle is a "bus"?

What kind of vehicle is a

The program's MC stated, "That's incorrect," then gave the answer, "A bus means... That's actually a car!"

In this question and answer section, the Vietnamese Language King made two mistakes.

1. Questioning error

The object itself, or its name, has no inherent meaning. Therefore, one cannot ask "What does 'buffalo' mean?", "What does 'rice plant' mean?", "What does 'motorcycle' mean?", or even "What does 'Nguyen Van A' mean?". Instead, the question should be "What is a buffalo?", "What is a rice plant?", "What is a motorcycle?", "Who is Nguyen Van A?". In the case under consideration, the correct question would be "What is a bus?", or "What is another name for a bus?".

What's noteworthy is that this type of mistake is repeated many times. For example:

- King of Vietnamese (broadcast on January 6, 2023), asked: "What does 'chả giò' mean?" (Answer: "giò lụa", "nem rán").

- The King of Vietnamese Language (January 13, 2022) asked: "What does 'saliva' mean?" (Answer: "saliva", "drool").

- The King of Vietnamese (February 3, 2023) asked: "What does 'wood ear mushroom' mean?" (Answer: "wood ear mushroom")...

2. Errors in vocabulary interpretation

The answer "A bus means... That is a car" that the presenter read out was incorrect, both in terms of its vocabulary definition and its meaning. It meant the question was about buses, but the presenter didn't know exactly what a bus was.

So what kind of vehicle is a "xe đò"? The word "đò" in "xe đò" borrows the meaning of "đò" in "đò/con đò" – a small boat that carries passengers on rivers and waterways along fixed routes. The word "đò" in "con đò" comes from the word "độ" (meaning to cross; crossing from one bank to the other). The ancients used the meaning of "độ" to name a means of transporting passengers across rivers, calling it a "đò".

In modern times, the word "đò" (boat/ferry) has been combined with "xe" (vehicle) to refer to a type of vehicle that came into existence later than boats, specializing in transporting passengers by road, distinguishing it from cars and trucks. Therefore, when asking "What is a 'xe đò'?" (instead of "What does 'xe đò' mean?"), the correct answer should be "passenger bus/car." Similarly, when asking "What is a 'xe tải'?", the answer should be "cargo truck," not just "car" in general.

Thus, the way the question and answer are phrased in "What does 'bus' mean?" reveals that the scriptwriter not only lacks basic linguistic knowledge but also has limited understanding of the subject matter.

Hoang Tuan Cong (Contributor)

Reference: In semantic logic, two common question structures are "What is X?" and "What does X mean?".

1. The structure "What is X?".

- Used to ask about the definition, nature, or identity of an object, phenomenon, or concept.

- It is often used for specific nouns such as "bus," "computer," "friendship," etc.

Purpose: To find out what kind of vehicles "bus" and "computer" are, and what they are used for.

2. What does the structure "X" mean?

- Used to ask about the meaning, explanation, or content of a word, phrase, or sentence.

- It is often used for words, terms, or sentences that are difficult to understand or have ambiguous meanings.

- The purpose is to understand the meaning of the word, often in cases where the word has a figurative, metaphorical meaning, or is slang.