ChatterBank27 mins ago
Petrol / Gas
23 Answers
As those poor confused americans call petrol 'gas', what do they call gas?
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I hate to upset you, but in this case, the Americans are correct. Our word "petrol" started out as a particular brand name for gasoline. It acquired its usually accepted meaning in the same way as "hoover" and "thermos".
Similarly, the American spellings color, flavor, etc. are the original forms taken from Latin. Our "our" endings are a French affectation.
I hate to upset you, but in this case, the Americans are correct. Our word "petrol" started out as a particular brand name for gasoline. It acquired its usually accepted meaning in the same way as "hoover" and "thermos".
Similarly, the American spellings color, flavor, etc. are the original forms taken from Latin. Our "our" endings are a French affectation.
Ah ha!... linguistic chauvinism run amok! Here in the U.S., gas (for ones auto) is actually an abreviation for gasoline, while gas for the kitchen range (nee hob... how did that originate?) is short for natural gas or perhaps LNG (liquid natural gas or propane for rural residents). Gas of intestinal origins is simply common usage for the more technical flatulence... Seems reasonable to me. The red rubber end to a pencil is an eraser... again, very descriptive as to function, no?
Now, aerodrome is truly strange as is aeroplane... but what the hey! Live and let speak, I say! (Our friend panic must have come away from Ft. Worth with some Texican... the pervasive ya'll comes to mind).
Now, aerodrome is truly strange as is aeroplane... but what the hey! Live and let speak, I say! (Our friend panic must have come away from Ft. Worth with some Texican... the pervasive ya'll comes to mind).
Clanad, I was informed the technical termonology for . . . well guess . . . was "rectumus vibratis". Butt suprisingly attempts to confirm this with a google search proved fruitless.
Fuel for thought.
Fuel for thought.
Perhaps, mibn, the Latin word from which your rektum is derived, being rectus would be more responsive to query. Actually, I'd rather thnik the surrounding cheeky parts produce any vibratto, no? But, again (pun only slightly intended) perhaps the effect is different for Brits than Americans who are usually portrayed as the world's biggest... I probably know some of my countrymen who fit the description...