# "Carpool" to mean parents picking up/dropping off kids at school **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carpool-to-mean-parents-picking-up-dropping-off-kids-at-school/262487 "2004-08-31T23:38:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carpool-to-mean-parents-picking-up-dropping-off-kids-at-school/262487/1 "2004-08-31T23:38:11Z")
For about the past 10 years I’ve noticed the “carpool”, which traditionally means two or more people sharing one car, to be used to mean the process of dropping off or picking up one’s child from school. Evidently the parents usually have to wait in a long line of cars to reach the pick-up/drop-off point, and they’ll describe this as “sitting in carpool”, or “waiting in carpool”. I’m wondering how this usage came about, since it seems to have very little to do with actual carpooling. Were such arrangements called “carpool” with the hope that the parents would find a way to actually carpool, as in sharing vehicles? Or was it just one of those usages that sprang up of its own accord? Is it regional? If you are a parent, and you drive your kids to and from school, do you use the term “carpool” with the newer meaning? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carpool-to-mean-parents-picking-up-dropping-off-kids-at-school/262487/2 "2004-08-31T23:47:44Z")
The only usage this way I’ve heard is for it to be the parents turn to drive in the carpool: several parents take a day a week picking up **all** the kids and bringing them to/from school. I’ve never heard the term refer solely to one’s own kids. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carpool-to-mean-parents-picking-up-dropping-off-kids-at-school/262487/3 "2004-08-31T23:51:55Z")
No, a “carpool” is kids from several families travelling to and from school in one parent’s car. The proper term for lots of individual parents waiting to pick up their kids is “Monster Truck Rally.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carpool-to-mean-parents-picking-up-dropping-off-kids-at-school/262487/4 "2004-08-31T23:55:39Z")
It’s hardly the first time that people have picked up on a phrase and appropriated it for their own purposes. Either you learn to live with it, or you tackle it head on. Your choice 😃