Lorry or Truck?

[plowter]

What's the difference between a lorry and a truck?

[chelsieuk]

Well I think a lorry is a big box vehicle on 8 or more wheels they are used a lot to carry stock to ware house and shops.

Truck I think is the one that is used at building sights and alot are flat backs.

Well i think this is the answer

Chel

[Clanad]

Maybe 5,000 miles... here in the U.S. they're trucks, while I see the term lorry used only in the U.K. Here, an 18 wheeler is also called a tractor/trailer. The tractor being the pulling rig and the trailer, of course, being the load carrying follower. Truckers often refer to the whole thing as a "rig"...

[Quizmonster]

In Chambers Thesaurus, the very first entry under 'lorry' is 'truck' and the very first entry under 'truck' is 'lorry'! In everyday British English usage, they are nowadays effectively synonymous.
In earlier times, a lorry tended to be flat and sideless - or with low sides - whereas a truck was more often enclosed to protect the cargo.

[Clanad]

Good day, Q!
(Apologies, plowter)

I've just finished a book, with which you're probably already familiar. The title is The Professor and the Madman. An excellent read about the original Editor of OED, Professor James Murray and one of the volunteers so important to the lengthy project: Dr. William Chester Minor, an American surgeon who was incarcerated in an asylum for the criminally insane in England. You may enjoy it...

[Jillius]

My hubby drives a great big lorry but he still calls it a truck.
He hates it when people call it a juggernaut !

[geff_p]

wagon

[Bewlay Bros]

To me a lorry is a British styled "boxy" HGV a la Eddie Stobart.

A truck is an american monstrosity a la what Chris Eubanks drives or the beast that does the chasing in the 70's movie "Duel".

LORRY:

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/c any/trans_eddie_stobart_volvo.jpg

TRUCK

http://www.classiccar.com/garage/blog/uploads/ duel_truck.jpg

[col craddock]

English v American for example with the automobile
bonnet - Hood
boot - trunk
wing - Fender
indicator - Turn signal
hand brake - parking brake
brake lights - stopping lights
engine - motor
windscreen - windshield
AND THE ONE THAT DOESNT CHANGE
bumper - bumper
Maybe there are many more examples this is just a few to start

[Quizmonster]

My apologies, too, Plowter.

Hi, C. I'm familiar with the background of that story, though I haven't read the book you recommend. Apparently, Murray had been accepting dictionary submissions from the murderer for years before deciding to call on him 'at home' in his Surrey village. When he discovereed precisely where in Surrey he lived - Broadmoor in Crowthorne - it must have been quite a shock!

[sddsddean]

I drive an HGV (or LGV as they are now known) and although nowadays a lorry is synonymous with a truck, I believe originally a wagon was something pulled by horses on the road, a truck was a railway wagon and a lorry was a goods motor vehicle, but as HGV's are now supposed to be LGV's, it just shows that names of things change over time.

[heathfield]

'Truck' references tend to refer to 'small wheels' as the basis for the word. An example from way back is the 'truck' on which ships cannon were mounted, or on what we call a 'sack trolley' these days. In my youth, there were horse-drawn trucks and lorries, with little distinction even then between the words.

[Clanad]

Distinctive to heathfield's offering; the undercarriage or landing gear of larger, transport category aircraft (technically, any aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds) are still called trucks within the aviation community...

[jno]

Quizmonster, the book, like the vehicle, has different names in the USA and UK. It is a most entertaining read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Surgeon-Crowthorne-Mad ness-English-Dictionary/dp/0140271287/ref=sr_1 _2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202687401&sr=1-2

[Quizmonster]

Ah! Now that I've seen the book-cover and British title via your link, J, I believe I have read it! Hence - I have no doubt - my earlier claimed 'familiarity' with the story. Thanks.

[plowter]

Think a lorry has got closed sides, whereas a truck has an open back. So Tesco deliver to supermarkets with a lorry, engineers deliver girders on a truck.

Perhaps this could be used to test whether asylum seekers understand British life, language and culture? Now did you arrive here on a lorry or a truck?