A gondola is a long, narrow boat used in the canals of Venice, usually pushed along with a pole by a person standing at the back. The word can also describe a hanging cabin on a ski lift or air cable car.
“Gondola” comes from Italian, where it first referred to light, flat-bottomed boats. As technology changed, the name was borrowed for similar-shaped cabins hanging from cables or airships.
The classic Venetian gondola is built slightly crooked on purpose so it moves straight when rowed from one side. Modern ski ‘gondolas’ keep the idea of a slim, suspended passenger container, just in the air instead of on water.
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