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BrE / AmE vocabulary and grammar perception
<<invariably it's the more logical "car park", but there again there is a flaw with that one>>
How is Parking Lot not logical? It makes perfect sense. A lot. For parking...
<<ive only heard older people call the "black top" at a playground "pavement", but never the road. Airport runway is "tarmac" for me.>>
Not a White Zombie fan, I guess, or you would remember Iggy Pop's voiceover on "Black Sunshine": Finally, nothing moves High noon Blacktop rolling below the asphalt drive A concrete fascination Scraping the edge of nothing This is black sunshine
***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. To repeat - the British never call it a "parking lot" unless of course they have gone all prodigal and returned to these shores after a lengthy time living in either Canada or the USA, in which case they may bring other Americanisms back with them to Blighty just to confuse the natives, and perhaps irritate some of them in the process (which, incidentally, is pronounced "PROH-sess" over here and not "PROSS-ess" or what often sounds to us as "PRAH-sess"! ;-)
Damian, you are wrong to imagine that "lot" does not mean a piece of land in British usage.
If you consult the OED, you will find the meaning "plot of land" attested from the early 17th century. This reflects the fact that land in new colonies, etc., was often shared by casting lots.
Americans also use the term "plot" alongside "lot" to refer to an area of land, as in a "plot of land" or "a garden plot" or a "cemetery plot".
Funnily enough, the most noticeable Americanism was "they have gone all prodigal".
<<He fell and hit the edge of the pavement. (pavement/sidewalk) >>
To everyone: How do you find "He fell and hit the edge of the footpath" ?
>>How do you find "He fell and hit the edge of the footpath"?>>
I find it painful ; but isn't there a perfectly serviceable monosyllable for that : kerb in most of the Commonwealth, curb in North America ?
I don't really think about the meaning of "I could care less" logically. To me, it just means "I don't care". "I couldn't care less" sounds a lot stronger, though.
>>"He fell and hit the edge of the footpath" <<
yeah, it does sound painful. but for me, 'footpath' regards to something like a mountain trail... which dont really have an edge, being the ground itself and all, compared to a kurb/curb.
Well, I didn't mean to be evasive. In the British Isles "footpath" is used to mean a paved sidewalk. But there's no reason why an American who hadn't travelled there should know that.
And "pavement" is sometimes used in the American South to mean a sidewalk or paved footpath. The band Pavement is from Virginia. (That's fairly close to K's Baltimore.)
Before the corrections start pouring in, I would add that some members of the group Pavement did have West Coast origins, but the thing got really going at the University of Virginia. Reportedly they chose the name "Pavement" because they liked the sound of the word and had the idea that it had the same meaning in America and Britain (where they were planning to tour early on).
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