Just for fun and now totally off-topic, the stuff for aeroplanes is aviation
fuel (or spirit). Even though it is the same, passengers here would have
heart attacks at the thought of flying on paraffin.
Paraffin is the stuff for heaters and lamps (like you see in the westerns) -
it's also non flammable without a wick (drop a match in a bucket of it and
it goes out - honest)
Petrol is what we put into our cars (unless it's a diesel engine).
It's always been a source of merriment as my father-in-law drove a petrol
wagon (gasoline truck) to the airports used by the USA around 1939-44. He
(and others in the industry referred to everything as "spirit" with a prefix
of what it was used for).
That meant he loaded up with aviation spirit, drove to the aerodrome and
told the UK police he had aviation fuel, told the guy on the gate he had
kerosene and, if he managed - and I'm sure he didn't but others did -  to
offload a small amount on the way to Joe Public, it was paraffin.
If you see a gurdy player going really fast and it bursts into flames,
they've used the English translation!
Colin Hill
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arle Lommel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: [HG] Cleaning your wheel


> > And most English people are referring to jet fuel when they say
> > 'kerosene', I think.
>
> Since kerosene used in lamps and jet fuel are actually the same
> substance (in both the U.S. and the U.K.), this is not surprising.
>
> -Arle
>


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