English words are American words and vice versa?

Damian posted this:

<<***How is Parking Lot not logical? It makes perfect sense. A lot. For parking...***

You are obviously a North American....from either the USA or Canada, as it is in these English speaking countries where it is logical, which it isn't in this one here on the other side of the ocean.

In the USA and Canada the word "lot" can mean an area of land set aside for some purpose, in this case for the parking of vehicles. I would guess that over there it also applies to an area of land set aside for building purposes which, in the UK, would be referred to as a "plot".

Here in the very first English speaking country the world ever had the pleasure to witness come into existence the word "lot" has several meanings, as it does with you lot over there and elsewhere in the ESW nae doot.....it can mean a plentiful supply of something, it can mean the circumstantial deal a person has had handed out to him or her in life, an item up for sale in an auction and usually numbered for identification purposes and in the sense I used it just now in this paragraph.....a group of people, often used in a rather pejorative way but definitely not in the way I used it here. >>


My response is:

All American words are also English words and vice versa, just with different frequencies of usage.


Do you agree? Is it wrong of Damian to claim that "Parking lot" is not logical in British English, when in fact the American meaning is part of the English language, and since they speak English in Britain, it is also a valid meaning in Britain, just that it is not widely used?

>> Do you agree? <<

Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say *all*, but yes a goodly number of them are. For example, I doubt I would ever refer to a flashlight as a torch, as someone here would most likely hand me a flaming stick.

I'm British and I understand "parking lot" perfectly well, it would be unfair to say that it is illogical - all Brits know what it means - and we know that's what Americans call a "car park". However, that said, "car park" is also logical - the place where you park your car - and this phrase is the usual one in the UK. There's also parking bay, parking space, so what's wrong with parking lot?

As for the lot/plot dilema, I'd say what's wrong with a little p between friends. I suppose we could meet half way with the Americans and call it a "car plot".

I visualize a parking garage when I hear "car park".

''Car park'' sounds like an amusement park with cars.

It kind of does!

And Uriel sounds like a nigger.

Americans also commonly refer to "plots" of land. There is however a difference between how the words "plot" and "lot" are used. A "lot" is usually intended for a specific purpose even when vacant. A "plot" of land is just that, a piece of land. Americans usually refer to "plots" of land generically as that has been designated for ownership and does not imply any specific purpose.

I've noticed a lot of threads in which non-native speakers (especially Germans!) attempt to draw hard fine distinctions between BE and AE that don't really exist in reality. As a previous poster stated most differences are more a matter or frequency. The words "fall" and "autumn" are a good example. Americans use the words autumn quite a bit, yet most prefer to use the word "fall", and most Brits will not gaze in awe if someone there said "fall", yet many non-native speakers seem to have the fear of God somehow instilled in them that if they use the wrong word in the wrong place that people will not understand. Again, in reality, this is extremely rare among native speakers, and it is probably even more rare that a non-native speaker will be misunderstood if they happen to use a Briticism in the US or Canada or an Americanism in Britain. *Most* people that you are likely to deal with will understand you PERFECTLY, even if they pretend not to.

Americans tend to be idiots who often fail to pick up on subtle inplications in language, to the American mind, things are either black or white and this is reflected in their butchery of the English language.

Care to elaborate on that?