cab/caper

If ever a taxi driver said to a passenger “you’re really getting my goat”, he would be absolutely right. When you catch a cab don’t be surprised if it bleats and jumps about a bit. Both these words come from the Latin caper, “goat”. Cab is short for cabriolet, “carriage”, formed ultimately from Italian capriolare, “leap about”, so called because it jumped around like a wild goat as it ran along. The same verb gives us caper, which developed from “jump around playfully” into “play tricks”. So if you were born around Christmas/New Year, your birthday bash in a taxi could be termed a Capricorn caper in a cab!