Favorite Airbus Aircraft

[Anzatax]

I think you guys are wrong. Tarmac is a trademark material for paving runways and taxiways, at least once upon a time. That's why people nowadays like to refer to airport runways and stuff as tarmac; it is actually trademarked. Tarmac had the properties necessary for airport use, although most runways now use asphalt I think.

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You guys misunderstood. People don't refer to a specific area as tarmac - they refer to the paved taxiways and parking lots that are paved with Tarmac. It became a common term that stuck. There is nothing wrong with saying that "a plane was parked on the tarmac" - technically it is . It is a term in aviation representing what normal people would call a road.

[sfk]

So saying tarmac is right and wrong based on the material used to construct runway/taxiway?

[Anzatax]

In the sense of the term saying "tarmac" so commonly violates the trademark (just as you cannot trademark the word "road"). But I don't think it is technically wrong to say that "a plane is sitting on the tarmac"; due to the word actually being trademarked I would say that it is misused.

It is like Google - it is technically not a verb but it became part of the vocabulary due to the seach engine's wide use and popularity.

[Zortan]

There is no part of an airport officially called a "tarmac" is my main point.

[sfk]

So... to sum up all the things
Saying tarmac is misusing the word tarmac since it violates trademark
Media is saying tarmac all the time
Media is misusing the word tarmac
Misusing a word is wrong so
Media is wrong?

[Anzatax]

Media is always wrong

But as I said, like the word Google, there is technically nothing wrong with using the word now. In fact, according to the dictionary, tarmac is defined as "a runway or other area surfaced with tarmac or a similar material." So officially from the grammatical perspective there is an official part of an airport called tarmac. Also, Tarmac is only trademarked in the UK

[sfk]

So tarmac is right and wrong

[Zortan]

Tarmac is right as a material, not as a location. it's like saying that a plane was sitting on the asphalt for 30 minutes because of ATC delays lol

[sfk]

seating on the asphalt sounds funny but still makes sense though

[Zortan]

It does, but I mean, the media and stuff use the word tarmac in the wrong sense is what I mean haha