Why do Americans call petrol 'gas'

Originally posted by James1982
I'm questioning a few British pronunciations:

Think: I frequently hear (well, as frequently as I hear British people) say "Fink" instead of "THink" They change the "TH" sound to a "F" sound. Like a rat-fink. What's up with this? There isn't even an "F" in the word. Or instead of "Thoughtful" they turn it into "Fot-full" Finky finky finky it creeps me out whats it about?

Another one is how some British people add an "ER" sound to the end of words that end in an "A" sound.

Fantasia turns into "Fan-tase-e-er"

That's the only example I can think of now, Simon Cowell called that Fantasia chick on American Idol "Fan-tase-e-er" and I'm like WHAT?!!? Not that I watch American Idol. Seriously. I was living at home back then and my mother was watching it.

I know there are other times I have heard British people add the "ER" sound to a word that ends in "A" and I just don't get. Any brit folk care to explain?

edit on 24-5-2011 by James1982 because: (no reason given)

Thats just lazy speaking. I'm British, when I say think, thought, thanks and so on it does sound like fink fought fanks.

Rather than elongating the er to say fath-er it's easier to just make the A sound to make it farva or Muva. There you go we even sometimes replace the TH with V. We're all taught to pronounce the TH but alot of us just talk in a more comfortable manner rather than sounding like a bunch of posh toffs.

reply to post by Chukkles


Of course you are "correct." but this insistence can evolve into absurdity. For example, the word "inflammable" means, "This crap can catch on fire," right? This used to be painted in large red letters on every "petrol lorry" in the country. Then someone decided that the prefix "in" meant "not" as in "intolerant" or "incorrigible," therefore "inflammable" really meant "not flammable." Well, we must be precise! So the government mandated that all gas trucks (Sigh. I feel better now.) change to "Flammable" so as not to confuse anyone.

(I'm with you on couldn't care less, though. It bothers me as much as someone saying, "That was a real good game.")

PS. What's a posh toff?

reply to post by schuyler


en.wikipedia.org...

In British English slang, a toff is a mildly derogatory term for someone with an aristocratic background, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority. For instance, The Toff, a character from the series of adventure novels by John Creasey is an upper-class crime sleuth, who uses a common caricature of a toff - a line drawing with a top hat, monocle, bow-tie and cigarette with a holder - as his calling card.

It's just an uber posh person who will pronounce every th and other sounds a bit too correctly.
High class, holier than thou types.

Originally posted by Chukkles
reply to post by schuyler

 

en.wikipedia.org...

In British English slang, a toff is a mildly derogatory term for someone with an aristocratic background, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority. For instance, The Toff, a character from the series of adventure novels by John Creasey is an upper-class crime sleuth, who uses a common caricature of a toff - a line drawing with a top hat, monocle, bow-tie and cigarette with a holder - as his calling card.

It's just an uber posh person who will pronounce every th and other sounds a bit too correctly.
High class, holier than thou types.

Lol, so that would be "stuck up"

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
when its clearly a liquid??

Just saying....

Because we are better than you! But seriously it is short for gasoline.

Another one that does bug me is that in the UK we call it a toilet but in the US its called a restroom.

I was in Florida and whilst at a restaurant I asked where the toilet was, one of the waiters came over with a towel

That could have been nasty if I had used it

To be fair, I do have a Scottish accent so it might have been that but it was damn funny anyways.

reply to post by XXXN3O


Probably the accent. Americans have the worst time with the Scottish accent.

They have to dub Scottish movies for us.

reply to post by XXXN3O


Brilliant, he thought you asked for a towelette.

You got a really broad Scottish accent? How long before he realised what you was saying???

Ok Heres my contribution all in the name of fun of course.

How on this Earth is a 'Boogie' man supposed to be scary?????

It always makes me smile when I hear an American say the 'Boogie' man will get you

To Brits a 'Boogie' is a Dance. so it's like saying 'the dance man will get you'.

Even so we call the nasty man, The Bogey man or Bogie man which in itself is bad enough as I'm sure everyone knows what a bogie is......right?

reply to post by studio500


It probably started off a bogieman but too many fireside stories morphed it into boogy man.

What's the abbreviation of statistics--- stats

Therefore the abbreviation of mathematics is--- maths>> not to the American tho... Bless em

peace.

dej...

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


Russians call it Benzene which means Gasoline. I know because I speak Russian.

I think its already been established that gas is short for gasoline and is a liquid but also petrol is 2 syllables and gas is one syllable. Why waste your time with that extra syllable lol

Originally posted by dejarmaX
What's the abbreviation of statistics--- stats

Therefore the abbreviation of mathematics is--- maths>> not to the American tho... Bless em

peace.

dej...

lol maths sounds stupid thats why Americans say math just kidding but im assuming your talking from a uk standpoint but i think the explanation for the difference could be because with the american accent there is more emphasis on th's and s's than in other accents so it would almost be like adding on another syllable to the already shortened word. im just guessing here so im sure there is someone with a different opinion though.

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
when its clearly a liquid??

Just saying....

They call it gas because soon they will be driving their cars on fumes..?

reply to post by dejarmaX


The wonderful thing about the English language is that rules rarely apply. Deer is deer, no matter what. Same with cactus. Its not gooses its geese.

So no point comparing apples to oranges.

reply to post by Akragon


i think the word you are looking for is lorries

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


we do call them prams , a pram and a push chair are not the same thing

Say what you will, Spotted Dick sounds like a condition you should be discussing with the last girl you were with, NOT a desert. And while I'm on the subject of food, how did biscuit become a hot fluffy bread item in the US and a cookie in the UK?

Somewhere upthread it was questioned why in the UK men are sometimes called twats. I believe the term in question is twits, as in the unforgettable Monty Python skit "Upper Class Twit Of The Year", with a memorable performance as the winner by John Cleese.

So what is the big deal with using the phrase fanny pack in the UK?