Sam Heywood wrote:
>>On Sun, 18 Jun 2000 10:30:54 -0400, Roger Turk wrote:
> In American, turpentine is the term for the product used for thinning paint
> and is generally now called just "paint thinner," or "mineral spirits."
I could be wrong, but I believe "mineral spirits" is the name of a popular
solvent, often used as a paint thinner, that is far different from turpentine.
Why would something be called "mineral spirits" if it is refined from the
pitch of pine trees, as in the case of turpentine?
There is also such a thing known as "mineral-oil". This substance can be
very useful for those who are consternated. (Was that a spelling error,
a typo, or just a poor choice of words?) <vbg>
Some paint thinners are petroleum-based, others are alcohol-based, while
another may be just plain turpentine.<<
I have always used "turpentine" as the generic word for a paint thinner, just
as I use, "Kleenex" as the generic word for nose-blowing tissue. I just
checked my container labeled, "Paint Thinner" (in big letters) and above it
in small letters it says, "Pure Mineral Spirits," definitely different from
mineral-oil, which you ingest and it cleans your pipes.
Bastiaan's explanation of what "Gas" refers to in France makes me realize
that I sure could have gotten into a lot of trouble in Saigon in 1954. I had
to take the ship's jeep to get fueled at the French Naval Station and in the
process of fueling, one of the people working there spied, "GAS" written on
the 5-gallon "jeep can" attached to the rear of the jeep. (I had taken
French in high school and could understand and speak some very elementary
French, and in 1954, people in Saigon could speak either French or
Vietnamese.) He pointed to "GAS" and said (in French) that he thought that
it was called "petrol." As best I could, I explained to him that, "Dans
l'Angloterre, il y a petrol, mais, dans l'etats unis, "gas" est contracion
pour "gasoline." (Bear in mind, that 1954 was the last time that I used
French! My apologies for our French speaking members for murdering the
language.) Based on Bastiaan's explanation, I now realize that he was
questioning whether the jeep used petrol or diesel fuel!
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
