On or at?

[nq:1]I was in England a couple of years ago and I read: No smoking at this bus. & No smoking on this bus. What's the difference?[/nq]
The first one refers to the vicinity (outside) of the bus. Whether that is what was meant, I don't know.
The second means "inside the bus".

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

[nq:1]I was in England a couple of years ago and I read: No smoking at this bus. & No smoking on this bus. What's the difference?[/nq]
The first sign must either have been written by a non-native speaker or have lost a final word ("No smoking at this bus stop/depot"). "No smoking at this bus" is decidedly unidiomatic.
Sliding sideways (and why not?), the announcements at my local UK train

[nq:1]Sliding sideways (and why not?), the announcements at my local UK train station still specify that "Bags must not be left unattended anywhere on the station". Is "on the station" in this sense used in the US?[/nq]
I don't think so. "On the platform", but "at the station". Not that I have been anywhere near a train station since the mid-fifties in New Jersey.
Skitt (in Hayward, Calif

[nq:1]Sliding sideways (and why not?), the announcements at my local UK train station still specify that "Bags must not be left unattended anywhere on the station". Is "on the station" in this sense used in the US?[/nq]
No. Idiomatic AmE would have "*in* the station". One would say "on the platform", however. I think this is because a train station is generally thought of as a place that inclu

[nq:2]Sliding sideways (and why not?), the announcements at my local ... "on the station" in this sense used in the US?[/nq]
[nq:1]No. Idiomatic AmE would have "*in* the station".[/nq]
Only if you're inside the building. Otherwise (and including the former case), your "at the station". But I suspect that the translation of the above would be "on the platform".

Evan Kirshenbaum + H

[nq:1]I was in England a couple of years ago and I read: No smoking at this bus. & No smoking on this bus. What's the difference?[/nq]
The first means that you should not smoke when you are outside the bus, but near it.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geoc

[nq:2]No. Idiomatic AmE would have "*in* the station".[/nq]
[nq:1]Only if you're inside the building. Otherwise (and including the former case), your "at the station". But I suspect that the translation of the above would be "on the platform".[/nq]
Possibly, but I can see an AmE train station making some sort of public address announcement that bags shouldn't be left unattended anywhere in

[nq:2]Only if you're inside the building. Otherwise (and including the ... the translation of the above would be "on the platform".[/nq]
[nq:1]Possibly, but I can see an AmE train station making some sort of public address announcement that bags shouldn't be ... Some train stations are hardly more than a platform, but even those have a bit more (like, say, the tracks).[/nq]
For the kind of

[nq:2]Possibly, but I can see an AmE train station making ... even those have a bit more (like, say, the tracks).[/nq]
[nq:1]For the kind of station you describe at the end of the preceding paragraph - the kind that consists of ... impossible. In other words, not all (train) stations have the 'Room' or 'Building' characteristics that are necessary to license "in".[/nq]
And then there is th

[nq:2]For the kind of station you describe at the end ... 'Room' or 'Building' characteristics that are necessary to license "in".[/nq]
[nq:1]And then there is the song: Passengers must please refrain from passing water in the station if you really must ... he will bring you a vessel. The reference there is obviously to a train standing in (not at) the station.[/nq]
Yeah, but the pufferbel