On Sun, 18 Jun 2000 15:43:20 +0000, Bastiaan Edelman wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Jun 2000 21:17:40 +0800, J J Young wrote:
<snip>
> The substance I meant is called in Holland: petroleum or terpentine but
> should certainly not be confused with 'petrol' which is far more
> explosive.
Hello Bastiaan:
By "petrol" I know you are referring to what we call "gasoline" in the
USA. We Americans commonly refer to "gasoline" simply by a shortening
the word and simply calling it "gas". We are of course aware that such
a term is technically incorrect because gas is not a liquid.
Nevertheless, the use of this word in place of "gasoline" is very
widespread. Among Americans this does not lead to confusion as long as
the context is clear.
BTW, in referring to petrol as being far more "explosive" than petroleum
or turpentine, a better choice of words would have been "volatile", IMHO.
Also, BTW, turpentine should not be classed with petroleum distillates.
Turpentine is refined from the pitch of pine trees.
<snip>
> I hope you will not explode after this explanation.... Bastiaan.
No, I have neither exploded, nor have I become volatile. I found your
explanation very informative.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
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