Pedants' Corner

[Mike Costigan]

Thanks for that link, Reckers; so their surname is now Mountbatten-Windsor - I was half-right 

[Duncan Grimmond]

So long as the other half is left...

[Mike Costigan]

It was last time I looked...

[Duncan Grimmond]

Let's get back to pedantry, why do we have to "meet up with " rather than just meet? Or say "up until" rather than plain "until" ,tautology seems to invade when we look the other way. I did hear some pundit say" Looking back out it retrospectively..."

[Denis Sweeney]

Whilst on one of many road trips in the states, keeping off the interstates to explore small town America, we were fortunate to meet “genuine” relations of the royal family, their ancestors had immigrated to America in the distant past………and their surname “Windsor”………….we did not have the heart to destroy their illusion

[andrew34ruby]

Why do new names predominate for so many components?

Why has a bush become a bushing?

A pipe become a line.

Petrol become fuel?

Windscreen become windshield?

Brake linings are becoming pads.

Replacing a part is becoming swapping out. What was wrong with swapping?

[Mike Costigan]

Andrew, I believe bushing, line, windshield and swapping out are all American terminology; I suppose with the growing international nature of magazines, and now the internet, it is inevitable that the largest audience will influence the words used. As for fuel instead of petrol (or gasoline) that reflects the wider range of fuels now available - fifty years ago hardly any cars were diesel, and lpg was restricted to things like fork-lift trucks. As for pads, hardly any modern cars use drum brakes, so again that's just keeping up with the times. No doubt in another fifty years 'drivers' will be unfamiliar with terms like brake pedal and steering wheel 

[Reckless Rat]

What's the French word for cabriolet?

It's actually "découvrable", and beware of the use of "capote" which in motoring parlance we would call a soft top, but like the US "rubber" it also means a Johnny to a Frenchman...

[Ray White]

Frenchperson, surely, in these non binary days?

[Reckless Rat]

Ooh, that's a bit pedantic! Well done!