Morris Minor Owners Club

Has anyone ever compiled a dictionary to cross-reference automotive terms between U.S and U.K.?
I never realized how many terms are different. Almost more different than not!
Boots, bonnets, screens, spanners, propshafts... it's like a different language I'm learning.
-Shouldn't be surprised I guess considering the steering wheel being on the wrong side.
I'll say I kinda like driving the car on the other side. Strangely, the hardest part for me is the rear view mirror. For some reason, my brain takes a moment to see what I'm looking at. If that makes any sense.
But, as we say, it's all good.

In the back of the Haynes purchase and diy restoration by lindsay porter there is such a list
you must mean a trunk,hood,windscreen,wrench and driveshaft.
I will transcribe it .....one day.

Ha! Almost right Rob.. windshield!

Rockers always get me. Isn't that what you guys call the sills?
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English followed by Other world
Accelorator Gas Pedal
Ariel Antenna
Anti roll bar Stibilizer or sway bar
Big end bearing Rod bearing
Bonnet(engine cover) Hood
Boot (luggafe compartment) Trunk
Bulkhead Firewall
Bush Bushing
Cam follower or tappet Valve lifter or tappet
Carburettor Carburettor
Catch Latch
Choke/venturi Barrel
Circlip Snap ring
Clearance Lash
Crown wheel Ring gear or differential
Damper Shock absorber,shock
Disc (brake) Rotor/disk
Distance peice Spacer
Drop arm Pitman arm
Drop head coupe Convertible
Dynamo Generator (dc)
Earth (electrical) Ground
Engineers blue Prussian blue
Estate car Station wagon
Exhaust manifold Header
Fault finding/diagnosis Trouble shooting
Float chamber Float bowl
Free Play Lash
Freewheel Coast
Gearbox Transmission
Gearchange Shift
Grubscrew Set screw/allen screw
Gudgeon pin Piston pin or wrist pin
Halfshaft Axleshaft
Handbrake Parking brake
Hood Soft top
Hot spot Heat riser
Indicator Turn signal
Interior light Dome lamp
Layshaft ( of gearbox) Countershaft

More to follow

Nice!! (Brilliant!!)
Keep 'em coming..

Leading shoe ( of brake)....Primary shoe
Locks.....Latches
Methylated spirit ...Dentured alcohol
Motorway....Freeway, turnpike etc
Number plate....license plate
Parrafin... kerosene
Petrol...Gasoline(gas)
Petrol tank.....gas tank
'Pinking'....'pinging'
Prise (force apart)...pry
Propeller shaft ...Driveshaft
Quarterlight...Quarter window
Retread....recap
Reverse...back up
Rocker cover...Valve cover
Saloon....Sedan
Seized....Frozen
Side light...Parking light
Silencer....muffler
Sill Panel ( beneath doors) ...Rocker panel
Small end,little end... Piston pin or writ pin
Spanner....wrench
Split cotter (for valve spring cap)....Lock ( for valve spring retainer)
Split pin...Cotter pin ?????
Steering arm.....Spindle arm
Sump ....oil pan
Swarf.....Metal chips or debris
Tab washer....Tang or lock
Tappet.....Valve lifter
Thrust bearing...throw out bearing
Top gear.....high
Track rod ( of steering)....tie rod ( or connecting rod)
Trailing shoe (of brake)....secondary shoe
Transmission.....Whole drive line
Tyre ...tire
Van....panel wagon/van
Vice....vise
Wheel nut.....Lug nut
Windscreen...windshield
Wing/mudgard...Fender

Wow this is fascinating to me.
Parrafin.. is wax, like for sealing jars and canning.
Saloon is a bar (pub?)
Silencers are for hand guns.
We do have a special wrench called a spanner. A round thingy with pins to insert.

How about a trunnion?? That's what got me thinking about all this.

"Dentured alcohol " - you sure about that? Denatured, surely? Trunnion's easy enough. It's what the hingey bits that supported cannon barrels were called, I think. Uuuuum - oh yeah

"trun·nion (trnyn) n.

A pin or gudgeon, especially either of two small cylindrical projections on a cannon forming an axis on which it pivots.
[French trognon, stump"

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trunnion

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bloodyank wrote:Parrafin.. is wax, like for sealing jars and canning.

We call that paraffin wax.

Saloon is a bar (pub?)

You do sometimes get saloon bars - they're supposedly a bit posher than a normal bar in a pub. The bar is the counter that drinks are sold over; the pub is the whole building.

Silencers are for hand guns.

We would understand that too (though probably from watching too many American movies).

We do have a special wrench called a spanner. A round thingy with pins to insert.

We have a tool called a pipe wrench that plumbers use.

How about a trunnion?

That's what we call it, do you call it something different?

"We have a tool called a pipe wrench that plumbers use"
We have loads of tools called wrenches Here, it's used for tools which grip or squeeze the nut (or whatever), so yeah, pipe wrench, Mole wrench - I'll shut up...
Sorry, I find the whole thing fascinating, and interesting to see how the language mutated when left in isolation for a few hundred years (which applies equally to our version of it)
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Here's a spanner over here:


What about a lorry? A big truck? But not a pick-up?

A lorry's anything from a fairly small truch to a large one. Is what we call an articulated lorry a 'semi' there? Never quite grasped that one. Here we call those an "artic", and I'm curious to what semi is an abbreviation for - semi WHAT?
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Better move this to 'off topic, I think
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Tractor-trailer, Semi, 18 Wheeler, Big Rig. Lotta names for the big boys..
I think the Semi name comes from the trailer, which normally has no front axle.

Ariel Antenna

Would that be an antler?

(Ariel is a sort of gazelle. I think you meant aerial.)

I still like "Dentured alcohol " - is that a glass of vodka that's got a set of false teeth in it?

Drink with a bit of bite to it?

A drink you can really get your teeth into.

I've seen this one in the Haynes Porsche 944 manual, which is written in American.

In English- Strip down, American- Tear down.

Meaning the dissassembly of a part into its components. eg strip down or tear down an engine.

Ok Ok i spelt it wrong. Why does this forum not have spill chocker. I first had to translate it from wiltshire to english to american