A puddle jumper is also a term for a small aircraft that just flies between local airports.
To be fair to Sheppard, “puddle jumper” is a term for very small, manned aircraft. “Ship” has always implied to me something large; small watercraft are more “boats,” which I wouldn’t call any spacecraft. So puddle jumper fits better to me than gateship.
a ship carries boats. a gateship would need to launch smaller gateboats
If you want more fun, in us navy parlance, boats are only submarines. Everything else is a ship. The easy way to remember it is that if it sinks on purpose, its a boat.
Submariners will tell you this is wrong, and that are only boats, and targets.
So does that mean a ship that is purposely scuttled is now a boat? 🤔
If you scuttle it, it’s just a wreck. The boats have to come back up.
This argument was my favorite bit of SGA.