Roger - Turpentine is distilled pine oil. Terpentine (or Terps) is a petroleum distillate - That's what Americans would call Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS) or paint thinner. Big difference, and the cause of much confusion to beginning artists. Too many homonyms in English / American, I'm afraid. Dave Roger Turk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Bastiaan, Thanks for your explanation! It really helps to know the large differences that exist for some rather common terms. In American, turpentine is the term for the product used for thinning paint and is generally now called just "paint thinner," or "mineral spirits." Gas, short for "gasoline," (British = petrol) is what you put in you car's internal combustion engine (engine has spark plugs to ignite the fuel/air mixture). Diesel, diesel fuel, and diesel oil is what trucks and diesel engines use. Kerosene is used in oil lamps and was common in stoves when I was a child. Jet-fuel is often referred to as kerosene. Thanks again, Roger Turk Tucson, Arizona USA Bastiaan wrote: I knew this would happen... translating chemical substances especialy the common household substances is very tricky. Every language has its own words for the same substance... The substance I meant is called in Holland: petroleum or terpentine but should certainly not be confused with 'petrol' which is far more explosive. According to the Brittish English dictionary I translated it to 'paraffin' but better would have been 'paraffine oil'. In Holland parafin also means a wax (candles are made from and the wood of matches is soaked into the hot wax). The paraffin oil I meant is indeed used for hurricane lamps (although often with colored and smelly additives) and is closely related to kerosine (probably exactly the same) and diesel fuel for cars. The 'terpentine' I mean is a cleaner kind of paraffin oil and must not been confused with 'turpentine' which is a vegetable oil 'artist' painters use to delute their 'oil' paint. A bit confusing... My parents remember that right after WW-2 thre were many accidents with cooking gear that did explode due to the confusing names. Our liberators (mainly Americans, Canadians and Britts) did not even use the same expressions for the same substances. So 'petroleum' stoves were filled with 'petrol' and did explode because they should have been filled with 'paraffine oil' instead. The soldiers did not know, neither did the Dutch people... and if you add other European languages... the case becomes even more complicated. The best way to avoid accidents is to use your nose since all these compounds have their own smell. Gas, is that 'petrol' the Amarican way? Gasoline (French) or gas-oil = diesel (Dutch, German, Brittisch?) = kerosine (aviation) and closely related to paraffin oil, lamp oil and domestic fuel. THIS IS THE CHEMICAL I MEANT FOR REINKING RIBBONS. Choose the least smelling type. The group NOT to use: Benzin(e) German and Dutch, petrol (Brittish?), gas (American?), essence (French),.... the automotive fuel that has become unlaeded these days. I hope you will not explode after this explanation.... Bastiaan. ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
