Vehicle terminology in the media

[Christine]

My mates in the deep  blue  ' 67 Camaro  with a Muncie rockcrusher gearbox .. 

 

 

 

[Metal Guru]

On 02/01/2025 at 21:16, Spiny Norman said:

Suspect it may be a Scottish thing but the gutter press up here have an annoying tendency to use the term 'motor' when referring to a whole vehicle. 
"The motor was stolen between 6 and 10"
The electric sunroof motor?
 

My Nan always called cars “motors” and she never left Kent. She also called traffic lights ,Stop and Gos, but most “new” inventions (she was born around 1910), were Thing a me jigs or  a Whatsitsname.

[DavieW]

On 02/01/2025 at 21:16, Spiny Norman said:

Suspect it may be a Scottish thing but the gutter press up here have an annoying tendency to use the term 'motor' when referring to a whole vehicle. 
"The motor was stolen between 6 and 10"
The electric sunroof motor?
 

Slightly off topic but our local newspaper uses "motor" and also "cops" in the above scenario. We live in Scotland, not America 😡

[High Jetter]

57 minutes ago, DavieW said:

Slightly off topic but our local newspaper uses "motor" and also "cops" in the above scenario. We live in Scotland, not America 😡

Don't get me started on our locakl newspaper - the number of times I see road names spelled incorrectly - or even non existent names - plus other errors. It's been the same for years and yes, I have offered my services as proof-reader although have always been ignored.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Does anyone remember those Haynes manuals which had a page of "British English to American English" translations? I think about half of them were made up or Britishisms which went extinct while the Stanley Steamer was still in development. 

On 02/01/2025 at 20:16, CaptainBoom said:

‘Gas’ as opposed to accelerator. (although I would say that might be driving instructors needing a quick word to say and the above mentioned Septic influence.

It definitely is, more than 20 years ago my driving instructor kicked off the first lesson by saying he'd be calling the accelerator "gas" simply because it's fewer syllables to yell at a 17 year old who is about to stall.

[Barry Cade]

Just remembered winkers... haven't heard that for years😆

[Metal Guru]

10 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Just remembered winkers... haven't heard that for years😆

Or blinkers. There no German word for indicator.

[Captain Mainwaring]

Not car related but while we're moaning about Americanisms, it annoys me far more than it should when people say 'can I get'.

"Can I get two sausage rolls and a steak bake please". 

If I worked at Greggs in that situation I would reply "No, you can GET to fuck, you bastard". 

[DSdriver]

On 03/01/2025 at 07:12, warch said:

My kids watch a lot of American media stuff especially online but quite frankly US culture was massive when I was a kid in the 80s so not much has changed really.

 

Our friends' kids in Switzerland speak English with an American accent even though their mother is South African and their father is English.

Apparently the television is to blame 🤐

[DSdriver]

21 hours ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

Does anyone remember those Haynes manuals which had a page of "British English to American English" translations? I think about half of them were made up or Britishisms which went extinct while the Stanley Steamer was still in development. 

It definitely is, more than 20 years ago my driving instructor kicked off the first lesson by saying he'd be calling the accelerator "gas" simply because it's fewer syllables to yell at a 17 year old who is about to stall.

Unless your car is Hydrogen or LPG powered, gas is technically incorrect.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, DSdriver said:

Unless your car is Hydrogen or LPG powered, gas is technically incorrect.

Gas is short for gasoline ( really?) so only technically incorrect for diesels.

[RayMK]

54 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Gas is short for gasoline ( really?) so only technically incorrect for diesels.

I can remember one or two very elderly people in the 1950s referring to 'petroleum sprit' and occasionally saw that term on high street petrol pumps/signs which had an overhead swing-out pipe gantry so that pedestrians could still walk past when someone's vehicle was being refuelled.  Although technically correct, it was a bit of a mouthful and generally shortened to just 'petrol' in the UK.  Gas is quick and easy to say.  As others have pointed out, it is short for 'gasoline'  which is the same as 'petroleum spirit.'  The American term 'gas' confused me at school because our science teacher made it clear that there were various states of matter i.e. solid, liquid, gas and plasma.  Eventually I became accustomed to their terminology with minimal annoyance.  When living in Germany and owning my first moped - bought in Roermond in 1967, the Dutch for sparking plug (bougie) used to give me childish giggles.  

In the media, the term 'solid axle' irritates me.   I think this comes from the USA.  The UK term was live axle or rigid axle or, if it was not a driving axle. 'dead axle' was the correct term. All non independent set-ups, of course.    

[reb]

3 hours ago, DSdriver said:

Our friends' kids in Switzerland speak English with an American accent even though their mother is South African and their father is English.

Apparently the television is to blame 🤐

The oldest of my younger batch of cousins is 18 and speaks with a California accent. I can only assume it's because he's been raised on a diet of American TV/Movies and TikTok.

I don't really know him that well, what with being 10 years older than him we've never had that much in common.

[Barry Cade]

25 minutes ago, reb said:

The oldest of my younger batch of cousins is 18 and speaks with a California accent. I can only assume it's because he's been raised on a diet of American TV/Movies and TikTok.

I don't really know him that well, what with being 10 years older than him we've never had that much in common.

Just outside Falkirk, if I remember correctly.

[reb]

2 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Just outside Falkirk, if I remember correctly.

It would be just as odd for him to have an accent from there!