>>>I use the touchpad--but only on airplanes :-)
>>
>>This one gets me every time... in my language, you are IN an airplane if you're traveling. You get ON a plane only to repair it, or a pull a James Bond like stunt. I just imagined someone on a wing trying to type while the screen keeps flapping down and the mouse dangles wildly.
>
>So I guess you get IN a train too?... IN a ferry?
In the bus, in the car, in a train, in a boat - but ON a ship, on a ferry (so we're not too consistent about it). And we wait "on a bus", we "late on a train" (using a verb meaning "to be late"), but if we get to catch a ride, we are IN it. I guess the general rule is that if the vehicle has an enclosure, you ride in it (car, train, submarine), if it has an open deck or seat (horse, bicycle, ship, flatbed car, flatbed trailer), you're on it.
If you're "on the bus", you're probably washing its roof.
>My guess is that we all get ON a merry-go-round.
We do.