just bare "exhaust"

Question

Hi,(1) Is it common to use just "exhaust" for "exhaust pipe" in spoken English?(2) Is it common to use "indicator" for "turn signal"?(3) Is it common to use "number plate" for "license plate"?thank you!mus-te

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

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In British English, yes to all questions.

Also bonnet for hood,
boot for trunk,
windscreen for windshield,
bumper for fender,
gear lever for gear shift,
saloon for sedan,
front passenger seat for shotgun,
and petrol for gas.

Rover

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thanks for the BrEng vs AmEng difference list!

I must confess I am still having problems with the trio "bumper - fender - wing"...

Here is what my Longman reads for the entries "bumper" and "fender"

BUMPER:

British English a bar fixed on the front and back of a car to protect it if it hits anything [= fender American English]

FENDER:

American English the side part of a car that covers the wheels [= wing British English]

Isn't this information (taken from the dictionary) confusing and controversial?

bumper (BrEng) and wing (BrEng) are quite different things I guess?

Enoon · Answer

There is some inaccurate information here. I am an American and a long-time car owner. Longman is wrong to say that the Americans call the part that hits first in front and back a fender—it is a bumper. And just to be clear, the only wing on our cars is the wing window (which you hardly see any more), the little triangular window in the door that tilts to open.

Now I don't know what a British bumper or fender are.

You can say "exhaust" to mean "exhaust pipe", but it is likely to be understood as "exhaust gases" if the context is not clear. "Shotgun" is understood, but it is only used in certain cases, like when you call shotgun to reserve for yourself the front seat opposite the driver for a road trip; "passenger seat" (no "front") is usual (the back passenger seats are just back seats, logically, driver-side, center and passenger-side).

John Bull's petrol is either "gas" or "gasoline" Stateside by a set of complex unwritten rules. You put gas in the car, not gasoline, and a car cannot run out of gasoline, but you clean a wrench with gasoline, not gas. There are more. Never take gasoline inside a dwelling, by the way.

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thanks a lot,enoon!
The last paragraph (on the "complex unwritten rules") is especially interesting and ... challenging!
We (English learners) can hardly ever find this kind of insider's information in our boring English textbooks :-)

CalifJim · Answer

MUSCOVITEWe (English learners) can hardly ever find this kind of insider's information in our boring English textbooks :-)

If it's any consolation to you, we have the same problem going the other way when we try to learn a foreign language.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

In the US, you'd commonly hear:

1. Tailpipe, for the exhaust pipe that sticks out from the rear of the car. You'd seldom hear exhaust pipe or exhaust used in this sense.

2. Turn signal is the term used. Turn indicator is rarely heard.

3. License plate is the term used. Number plate is never used.

Anonymous · Answer

In the US:

Bonnet and boot are never used in an automotive sense.

Windscreen would only be used for specialty windshields, like on a big motorcycle or on an off road vehicle, etc.

Bumper means those things in the front and back that make first contact in a collision.

Fender is the sheet metal form over each wheel.

Gear lever is not used in the sense of gear shift.

Saloon is never used in an automotive sense.

Shotgun is not used in an automotive sense. Front seat is the term used in the US. The only time you might hear shotgun used with respect to cars is in police work. If an officer is riding in the front seat next to the driver, he's "riding shotgun." This is from the old stagecoach days when a man armed with a shotgun would sit next to the driver as a security guard.

Petrol is never used in an automotive sense. Gas is the term used in the US.

Mister Micawber · Answer

I agree except that many people (including me) use 'shotgun' for the front seat next to the driver (pessimists use 'suicide seat').

just bare "exhaust"

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