My job takes me to Norfolk & Suffolk regularly In Lakenheath & Mildenhall the two RAF (Royal Air force) Bases are leased to the USAF(United States Air force ) On many occasions I have been asked by a driver of a stupidly sized SUV or Pick up truck brought over from the US "Wheres the gas station ? I always reply There's one nearby but I'm not 100% Certain it sells LPG Gas for cars" They then look puzzled " Oh you mean petrol ⛽️? " There is a Petrol station on the RAF Bases which sells it cheaper by around 50p I suggest to them that you should fill up there and also avoid driving down narrow country lanes in a vehicle more suited to a long wide freeway in there home country. And 100% of them don't understand Sarcasm.
I worked for Shell UK in the 1960s as a chemical plant operator. Inside the refinery we always used the terms Gasoline for petrol and Kerosene for paraffin (which was widely used for home heating at the time) Outside the refinery of course Petrol and Paraffin were used. No idea why but I suppose it was because the USA was dominant in the market by then. Petroleum was the term we used for Crude oil, the stuff that comes out of oil wells.
My uncle moved from Tipton (in the middle of the U.K.) to Canada as a young man and somehow kept his accent. I loved it when he came back to visit and would take his rental car to fill up asking for gas whilst sounding like an extra from Peaky Blinders. The rise of the self service petrol pump took a lot of fun out of our lives. Interesting video - like a lot of Americanisms we are often clueless as to how they originated and so many of them weren’t American to begin with.
Bit of info for you . Remember the irish cop and his sergeant in the first series ? My GT grandfather was the chief constable of Yardley village at around the time peaky blinders was set . Basically that character was him ! it wasnt mind . I doubt he was even that compassionate . Bit of history on him . Its assumed his name was Pardoe . He had at least 8 children , the amount known . His wife died assumed in childbirth at the time my grandmother was 1 1/2 ( in 1920/21 ) . The younger children were put into an orphanage with the rest cast to the wind and history . She grew up there leaving when she went into service at 14 . At 18 she met my grandfather and had children my father being the second of 4 . She knew or knew of 4 of the children . The accents they use are all over the place . Theres a degree of black country built in rather than the local dialect but this is a failing of what they have been taught as to live here you certainly know the differences . The accents they try to make are from greet , accocks green , yardley and tyseley . Tipton is the other side of the city and very very very much different .
@@godzillas6301 I assumed that most people watching Auto Shenanigans wouldn’t have a great deal of knowledge of the accents of the West Midlands and Peaky Blinders seemed a close enough reference point (which has characters with Black Country as well as Brummie accents as I remember it) . I wasn’t sure that I could succinctly explain Tipton to a wide readership! Although if anyone loves their vintage cars a lot of Bean cars were built in Tipton, the company becoming one of the parts of what became Leyland (and then British Leyland).
@@philipellis7039 Sure enough i worked at Leyland from 86-89 on rectification ( Q gate , LM10 and Lm11 plus others ) , Longbride , Cowley and Canley . My grandad also worked at Lucas etc . Lets say its been rather vehicle driven for 100 Years around here 🙂.
Here in Japan, the word 'gasoline' is used as a foreign loan word and rendered as 'gasorin' (ガソリン) and a petrol station becomes a 'gasorin-sutando'(ガソリンスタンド), again from English. It is never however referred to as 'gas' and that term specifically refers to propane, butane etc.. Interestingly enough, diesel uses both a Japanese version of the English and a unique Japanese word and is called 'dizeru'(ディーゼル) and 'keiyu' (経由=light oil) and kerosene/paraffin doesn't use English at all and is exclusively called ’toyu' (灯油 = literally, light or lamp oil).
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
In French there is a term "Petrole". This refers to oil (in a crude way) and is probably derived from Petroleum. If you wanted something for your car then you need to get this distrilled to get the "Essence" which will get your car moving. The problem I have with "gas" as a term is...that it isnt. Its a liquid. The idea of filling my car with gas is to have visions of the Hindenburg and it floating away.
Not only that, but look up gas powered transport in London during WW2. Due to fuel shortages, alternative methods were adopted, some from WW1. Large bags of coal gas(town gas) tied to the top of taxis were a common sight.
@@roderickmain9697 Are you 'normal' or have I missed something? I know the boiling point of butane and propane as I camp. Still, it has 'liquid' and 'gas' in the name (did the joke over over your head?) and you are so wrong to think the P is PROPANE. It's petroleum! But camping when you wake at 7am and it's 2'C outside Try boiling a kettle for a mug of tea. Latent heat of evaporation and all that does not help. If I only have butane, I actually take a canister into my sleeping bag so it is warm and there is gas in the morning. It's a liquid at -1C. Propane though. Wahey, a hot mug of tea. I'll let you work that out BRAINIAC.
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
Wow. I'm going to have to watch this again. And I thought that the M62 couldn't be topped. (It can't.) This is superb educational content - and I love it!
When I rock up to my local filling station and say "Ten gallons of your finest motor spirit, my good man", I always get a blank look - now I know why. Excellent video, as always.
When I worked for Shell (sadly in a filling station and not something much more interesting like research and development) it was referred to in company literature as ‘petroleum spirit’ and ‘diesel’. Tanker drivers would refer to their loads as spirit or diesel. And the LPG man would call it LPG. Which makes even less sense. Liquified Petroleum Gas. Is it a liquid or a gas? Make your mind up.
In New Zealand we stopped calling it gas in the 70's and then around the 80's we introduced LPG and CNG to petrol stations meaning cars really were running on gas. That put a complete end to calling petrol gas. UNTIL!!! Now days kids and lessers have started calling petrol gas again. When we hear someone use the words gas, trunk, or coolant we assume some not so polite things. lol
I think that's likely due to young people picking up Americanisms. I find a lot of under 18s in the UK now spelling mum as "mom" and I suspect that's why
@@jonc-1989 I'm for "ackney" (ironically) and I hear kids who are born here taking with American accents. RUclips is the reason. Parking lots and shopping malls.
In the USA and watching the TV news, there was a fire at an oil refining plant in north London, the newsreader said it was a Rock Oil refinery - someone in the back office had literally translated Petroleum from the Latin instead of using the American word gasoline. The Flintstones used rock oil!
Nope !! In french, we say essence or diesel (depends on which hydrocarbon fuel type) for car ... or kerosene for heat burners or planes, mazout for home, ... etc... Belgium (half germanic and french country) use "Benzin" but as a slang word, it sounds "zu deutsch" ! 😅
@@gurkharo2408 essence sans plomb refers to unleaded specifically 😂 See, I remembered something from school. There and once owning a Peugeot 205 anyway
@@chrisbardell : Gazole ou gasoile ?? ..ça porte à confusion (tout comme 60-12 au lieu de septante-deux, c'est logique !) ; dites "diesel" pour la voiture et "mazout" pour le chauffage !! Fät' diâb' ti, qué bazar ....
Dear Cuni, (you have to watch and listen very carefully to get all of your jokes) I call it fuel and I try to remember to put the Green hose in my Hayabusa and the Black hose in my BMW. You need to follow up with a video on coal tar soap. If you squeeze coal hard enough, it doesn't turn into a diamond but an orange antibacterial soap, and the by-product is coke (or cola to some). The advert for Movril though! What would Barmite say? (And for those of you outside of the UK, normal service will resume as soon as possible.)
In Italian the word "petrolio" is used to refer to crude oil. If you wanted to fuel your car you would be looking for "benzina" (petrol) or "gasolio" (diesel). The first one coming from the chemical compound benzene. Gas would be instead a gaseous fuel either "GPL" (LPG) or "metano" (natural gas or methane), these are very common on cars, vans or public transport busses.
In Albanian, we call it a mixture of the names "benzinë", "naftë", "gaz(olinë)" and "vajguri" (but vajguri is more to do with kerosene in oil lamps or whatever).
@@badhippo I remember Viz once had a story called 'Pedantics' Corner' Someone wrote in to say that it should have been called 'Pedants' Corner'. Hilarious!!
Turkey's entry in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest was about petrol (with the name 'Pet'r Oil'). The English version of the song ('Loving on Petrol') is even more blatant about its subject matter, and the French version ('Le roi du pétrole') is probably the same, but referring to some rich oil magnate.
It's Petrol, as in Petroleum Spirit. Not Gasoline, as the Americans insist. But what would you expect from a country that has spray-on cheese, and can't get the date in the correct order, (small, bigger, biggest).
In Slovenia, there's a brand of filling stations called Petrol. The Slovenian for 'petrol' is 'bencin'. The company, like many energy companies, has diversified into multiple energy sources, so you can buy electricity from Petrol, but you don't buy it from a Petrol station, which doesn't sell petrol, it sells bencin.
Somewhere I have a book "pioneers of petrol" which covers refining experiements in factories (basically sheds) along the Lea Valley in London (Essex border then) sort of just north of Stratford.
Thank you. I correctly identified the plot of land where Petrol™ originated in the local area in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, but just couldn't find (online) the evidence you've managed to locate in your research. There's probably flats on there now - I'll have to go back and check.
How about a campaign to bring back the term DERV? As in: "one of my cars runs on motor spirit, and the other one runs on DERV". Oh, and the bit at 1:28 had me in stitches.
I'd forgotton about DERV, as I remember it was a term used for commercial vehicle fuel at a time when 95% of cars were petrol engined in the UK. It faded out in the early '90s at about the time we were all encouraged to buy diesel cars.
@@johnmccallum8512 exactly. You'd see it on busses to notify that it has a diesel engine so put diesel in and since it's a road vehicle, don't use red diesel. I used to do electrical testing at Hyde park on the pumps. (I'm CompEX certified) They had 2 diesel pumps. Diesel for road vehicles and red diesel for private road vehicles and other machinery
When I was 16 I got my first motor vehicle, a Honda moped. The instruction book called the petrol tap a "petcock". At the time I just thought it was some kind of quirky translation from Japanese. I don't think I heard that word again until the last year or two, when I started watching American RUclips videos about vehicles and stuff with engines. If Americans don't have the word "petrol", why do they call petrol taps "petcocks"?
These are great! You could have them as short podcasts too - I accidentally did it as my phone was linked to my car and it turns out that with YT premium you can listen to videos with the screen locked 🤯
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
In FRG we talk Diesel, Benzin, Super (Benzin), Kerosin. Some companies e.g. Shell have numbers too (90 till 102). In Greece we use Diesel, Oktan 87, 92, 95. In Kingdom of Thailand it is Diesel, Octan 90 (Benzin) , Octan 95 (Super), Octan 100, Kerosin. In Germany 0 till 15% Ethanol inside, e.g. Benzin10 have 10% Ethanol in Octan 87/92 ...
Spanish has everything figured out. Petroleum is what you get from the ground, Gas is something in a gaseous state, Naphtha is what you put into Otto cycle cars, then you have kerosene for cleaning floors (also planes perhaps?), Diesel for good Euro V+ Diesel engines, Gasoil for large trucks with shitty engines
@@el_es I always assumed so, but I've just gone and researched this and found that actually there is no connection, surprisingly. Both benzene and benzine were named long before Karl Benz came along.
Napthalene from chemistry lessons was a pink , semi toxic. semi explosive fractal of refining. There were a couple of Naptha filling stations - one on the A1? and one(two?) near windmill bridge in Southall, west london.
Carless are still in business today as Carless Refining and Marketing. They make and blend speciality fuels for motorsports and engine testing (I used to buy a product called Carcal 50, a fuel blended for cold start testing of diesel engines at subzero temperatures)
I once worked on tankers and and LPG carriers and have spent many a happy hour (not) in the Persian Gulf and Libya with the stuff so have long been familiar with the names of various products made from crude oil (petroleum). Gasoline, shortened to gas by the Americans, is probably the most common term for petrol and is varied for products like Avgas. I have always used the term Kerosene and not Paraffin, the main reason being that Paraffin is a term used for a specific range of molecules of the formula CnH2n+2 covering Methane, Ethane,......Octane, etc. although these are generally called Alkanes now. I also have some choice words to call the E10 petrol as my 2001 Honda StepWgn campervan doesn't like it and needs the more expensive E5 super.
I still call Petrol Petrol and Diesel Diesel. Plus there used to be LGR (Lead Replacement Petrol) or LRG (Lead Replacement Gas) before it was stopped. And both Petrol and Diesel would be replaced by Hydrogen and Methane. And of course many newer vehicles are becoming battery powered or battery operated to cut down on Co2 emissions and climate change.
ooh!! ooh!!!!! Now do Kerosene (US) and Paraffin (UK), adding the fun part that heating oil in the UK is also called "Kerosine", but with an i, like apple stuff, but in the wrong place... :P
Would've been nice if they'd at least have shortened it to "gasol". Gas is a confusing name for a liquid when cars that are actually powered by gas exist, or "natural gas", or "LPG", or whatever, as we annoyingly have to call it now. And what are "gas prices" anyway? Nobody can answer that with confidence. In a parallel timeline, we would've been driving pet powered cars. Come to think of it, we did in the past.
To add to the confusion, I believe diesel can also be referred to as "gas oil" and that still exist as the corrupted French "gazole" which is synonymous with diesel, a word the French also use for it, and incidentally pronounce badly (dee-ay-zel). In German, the word is Benzin despite benzene not being synonymous with petrol/gasoline.
Carless Petrol. I love the irony. You just can't make this up. Also paraffin and kerosene would be a good one to know. There was James 'Paraffin' Young and his shale oil in Broxburn, Scotland, around 1859 or so. I was told in school chemistry that paraffin was a contraction of para- or par- affinity, hence the two f's in the word.
Here in Thailand they fill up with Benzine. I'm old enough to remember the company National Benzole as a well known fuel brand, of course Benzole was made from coal but it was blended with petroleum spirit. On another note, I give you a verse from a rugby song. She was only the mechanics daughter but she knew the smell of Benzole!
@@glen1555 In that case you'll remember: Keep going well, keep going Shell You can be sure of Shell, Shell, Shell. Oh, and: Boom, boom boom, boom, Esso Blue!
And to make it more fun, nafta is what couple places say for diesel. Because apparently diesel is supposed to only be the engine type, not what it burns.
I've just checked online. It's closer to 90p for unleaded, which is still good. Fuel duty on unleaded is 46 cents in Australia and the equivalent of A$1.04 in the UK. That would account for a good chunk of the difference. The higher rate of VAT (20%) would be the rest.
Jon, I am always intrigued t the story lines that catch your attention. I wonder if there is confusion now that what the US calls "natural gas" is being used as a motor vehicle fuel, especially in larger formerly fueled by the hated product over hear we call "diesel." Ask a stranger "Where can I get some gas?" and you just might get a referral to a Grade B restaurant. 🤣
As a francophonian (I am NOT French !!), those words always confused me because "gas" looks like "gaz" as air, oxygene, helium, propane... and farts ! so it's NOT petroleum product !!! Cazeline >> Gazoline ??? Mouahahaha.... and people still use this name ??!? Unbelievable ....
As an American, you're just going to have to deal with us calling it gas, short for gasoline, and not at all indicative of its state of matter. And also it's got to be vaporized to explode anyway, so it's in a gaseous state when it's actually powering your (for those values of "your" that don't include those of us driving electric) cars.
In Greek (and maybe other European languages) petrol it's called something from the root of the word benzene (βενζίνη), and diesel petroleum (πετρέλαιο - literally stone oil)
Name are derived from sources. Scientific sources are more robust than some guy coming out with a trade name. For example. Adrenaline is called epinephrine by Americans, however, it comes from the adrenal gland... this is why more doctors in the US are starting to call it adrenaline, because it makes more sense, and epinephrine was plucked from thin air. Petrol is the main distilate from petrolium products. It was originally called cazeline... well that's not Gas. As usual it was bastardised by the yanks.
So to confuse matters somewhat: When we press the accelerator it lets more air into the engine, specifically oxygen for combustion. Oxygen is of course a gas. Perhaps this is where the term ‘gas pedal’ originates?
So, by using it to get rid of nits, they inadvertently created the first petrol-heads.
😂😂
Boom-tish!
LIKE IT...
I see what did there lol
Ave it 😂🤦♂️
I love the really tight editing of the letter at 1:22😂 Another masterpiece 👍
Indeed.
I had to go back to the time stamp....superb
Use colons to create a clickable timestamp ie 1:22
@@PopeLando I’ve used my colon for many things, but never for this. Thanks, 😊
My job takes me to Norfolk & Suffolk regularly In Lakenheath & Mildenhall the two RAF (Royal Air force) Bases are leased to the USAF(United States Air force ) On many occasions I have been asked by a driver of a stupidly sized SUV or Pick up truck brought over from the US
"Wheres the gas station ? I always reply There's one nearby but I'm not 100% Certain it sells LPG Gas for cars" They then look puzzled
" Oh you mean petrol ⛽️? "
There is a Petrol station on the RAF Bases which sells it cheaper by around 50p I suggest to them that you should fill up there and also avoid driving down narrow country lanes in a vehicle more suited to a long wide freeway in there home country. And 100% of them don't understand Sarcasm.
I worked for Shell UK in the 1960s as a chemical plant operator. Inside the refinery we always used the terms Gasoline for petrol and Kerosene for paraffin (which was widely used for home heating at the time) Outside the refinery of course Petrol and Paraffin were used. No idea why but I suppose it was because the USA was dominant in the market by then.
Petroleum was the term we used for Crude oil, the stuff that comes out of oil wells.
bom bom bom bom, Esso Blue
My uncle moved from Tipton (in the middle of the U.K.) to Canada as a young man and somehow kept his accent. I loved it when he came back to visit and would take his rental car to fill up asking for gas whilst sounding like an extra from Peaky Blinders. The rise of the self service petrol pump took a lot of fun out of our lives.
Interesting video - like a lot of Americanisms we are often clueless as to how they originated and so many of them weren’t American to begin with.
Bit of info for you .
Remember the irish cop and his sergeant in the first series ?
My GT grandfather was the chief constable of Yardley village at around the time peaky blinders was set . Basically that character was him ! it wasnt mind . I doubt he was even that compassionate .
Bit of history on him . Its assumed his name was Pardoe .
He had at least 8 children , the amount known . His wife died assumed in childbirth at the time my grandmother was 1 1/2 ( in 1920/21 ) . The younger children were put into an orphanage with the rest cast to the wind and history . She grew up there leaving when she went into service at 14 . At 18 she met my grandfather and had children my father being the second of 4 . She knew or knew of 4 of the children .
The accents they use are all over the place . Theres a degree of black country built in rather than the local dialect but this is a failing of what they have been taught as to live here you certainly know the differences . The accents they try to make are from greet , accocks green , yardley and tyseley . Tipton is the other side of the city and very very very much different .
@@godzillas6301 I assumed that most people watching Auto Shenanigans wouldn’t have a great deal of knowledge of the accents of the West Midlands and Peaky Blinders seemed a close enough reference point (which has characters with Black Country as well as Brummie accents as I remember it) . I wasn’t sure that I could succinctly explain Tipton to a wide readership! Although if anyone loves their vintage cars a lot of Bean cars were built in Tipton, the company becoming one of the parts of what became Leyland (and then British Leyland).
@@philipellis7039 Sure enough i worked at Leyland from 86-89 on rectification ( Q gate , LM10 and Lm11 plus others ) , Longbride , Cowley and Canley . My grandad also worked at Lucas etc . Lets say its been rather vehicle driven for 100 Years around here 🙂.
bostin !
@@malcolmcog ay it
That moment with the quill made me laugh til next Tuesday
Fascinating. I'm quite taken with the idea that there might be a parallel universe out there in which car enthusiasts are referred to as spiritheads.
Here in Japan, the word 'gasoline' is used as a foreign loan word and rendered as 'gasorin' (ガソリン) and a petrol station becomes a 'gasorin-sutando'(ガソリンスタンド), again from English. It is never however referred to as 'gas' and that term specifically refers to propane, butane etc.. Interestingly enough, diesel uses both a Japanese version of the English and a unique Japanese word and is called 'dizeru'(ディーゼル) and 'keiyu' (経由=light oil) and kerosene/paraffin doesn't use English at all and is exclusively called ’toyu' (灯油 = literally, light or lamp oil).
Diesel is easy: it was named after German inventor Rudolf Diesel.
@@b_altmann Did you know he was killed whilst demonstrating his engine on a motorboat?
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
In French there is a term "Petrole". This refers to oil (in a crude way) and is probably derived from Petroleum. If you wanted something for your car then you need to get this distrilled to get the "Essence" which will get your car moving.
The problem I have with "gas" as a term is...that it isnt. Its a liquid. The idea of filling my car with gas is to have visions of the Hindenburg and it floating away.
Not only that, but look up gas powered transport in London during WW2. Due to fuel shortages, alternative methods were adopted, some from WW1. Large bags of coal gas(town gas) tied to the top of taxis were a common sight.
What about LPG then? 🙂 It's both and has the word petroleum. Ooh me head...
What does that make LPG?
@@stevekelly5166 Liquid Propane Gas. Propane is a gas at room temperature.
@@roderickmain9697 Are you 'normal' or have I missed something?
I know the boiling point of butane and propane as I camp. Still, it has 'liquid' and 'gas' in the name (did the joke over over your head?) and you are so wrong to think the P is PROPANE. It's petroleum!
But camping when you wake at 7am and it's 2'C outside Try boiling a kettle for a mug of tea. Latent heat of evaporation and all that does not help. If I only have butane, I actually take a canister into my sleeping bag so it is warm and there is gas in the morning. It's a liquid at -1C. Propane though. Wahey, a hot mug of tea. I'll let you work that out BRAINIAC.
Haha, now I can annoy my mates by butting in and saying "actually both of you are wrong, it's *_motor spirit_* " 🤓
Petrol is the correct one, no matter what people say! Just because!
It is, because gasoline gets shortened to gas and that's just plain confusing.
@@andrewholdaway813 In Newcastle, petrol gets shortened to pet. However why people keep referring to me as a fuel is anyone's guess!
@@andrewholdaway813 , it's not a gas nor does it fit the dictionary definition of the wording gas .
@@greyguy.960
Exactly
@@Mike-H_UK we call it "juice" or "petty" in the northwest 🤣 heres a question if the dyslexic yanks call it gas, what do they call LPG?
“You’re all wrong: Thanks for watching“ properly made me laugh out loud, and another reason why I love this channel.
Yeah, I liked that too! Although it would be even better if in an Alan Partridge voice, with the appropriate look of consternation...!😆
This was vastly more informative than I could possibly have imagined!
LOL - Ireland - Gas O'Lene -Sounds like an Irish jazz musician.
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
Wow. I'm going to have to watch this again. And I thought that the M62 couldn't be topped. (It can't.) This is superb educational content - and I love it!
When I rock up to my local filling station and say "Ten gallons of your finest motor spirit, my good man", I always get a blank look - now I know why.
Excellent video, as always.
Probably because the random bloke you just commanded to fill your car was unsure why you were talking to him.😬
When I worked for Shell (sadly in a filling station and not something much more interesting like research and development) it was referred to in company literature as ‘petroleum spirit’ and ‘diesel’. Tanker drivers would refer to their loads as spirit or diesel. And the LPG man would call it LPG. Which makes even less sense. Liquified Petroleum Gas. Is it a liquid or a gas? Make your mind up.
Once it's in the tanker, how do you know if it's a gas or a liquid? It's like Schrödinger's Cat
The signs say at filling stations say Petroleum sprites. Highly flammable. Switch off engines.
@@AsadMulla gotta watch out for them petroleum sprites, the worst kind of sprite!
;-)
That crazy girocopter dude from mad Max called it guzzo leen
In New Zealand we stopped calling it gas in the 70's and then around the 80's we introduced LPG and CNG to petrol stations meaning cars really were running on gas. That put a complete end to calling petrol gas. UNTIL!!! Now days kids and lessers have started calling petrol gas again. When we hear someone use the words gas, trunk, or coolant we assume some not so polite things. lol
I think that's likely due to young people picking up Americanisms. I find a lot of under 18s in the UK now spelling mum as "mom" and I suspect that's why
@@jonc-1989 I'm for "ackney" (ironically) and I hear kids who are born here taking with American accents. RUclips is the reason.
Parking lots and shopping malls.
@@jonc-1989 Thats what we think of them too. No brain, no personality. Trying to mimic people who we consider to be idiots.
@@jonc-1989 It has always been "mom" in and around Birmingham, though. Not an Americanism in those parts.
I'll stick with Mr Burns' Petroleum Distillate 😁
In the USA and watching the TV news, there was a fire at an oil refining plant in north London, the newsreader said it was a Rock Oil refinery - someone in the back office had literally translated Petroleum from the Latin instead of using the American word gasoline. The Flintstones used rock oil!
This ought to become the go-to video if you want to know the origins of gasoline and petrol. Great work John.
"I was only getting rid of his nits, officer"!
Had my weekly fix of dead pan humour. keep up the great work....
Excellent explanation Jon, I give it 4 stars.
That went down like a tetra-ethyl lead balloon 🙃
@@MajorT0m Love it 🤣
That's why the stuff is called "Benzin" in German (and I think other languages as well).
Nope !! In french, we say essence or diesel (depends on which hydrocarbon fuel type) for car ... or kerosene for heat burners or planes, mazout for home, ... etc...
Belgium (half germanic and french country) use "Benzin" but as a slang word, it sounds "zu deutsch" ! 😅
Bensiini crowd checking in!
@@gurkharo2408 essence sans plomb refers to unleaded specifically 😂
See, I remembered something from school. There and once owning a Peugeot 205 anyway
@@gurkharo2408 Et alors "gazole"?
@@chrisbardell : Gazole ou gasoile ?? ..ça porte à confusion (tout comme 60-12 au lieu de septante-deux, c'est logique !) ; dites "diesel" pour la voiture et "mazout" pour le chauffage !! Fät' diâb' ti, qué bazar ....
brilliant. who remember the pink paraffin signs on shops in the uk.
and don't forget ESSO Blue too!
"They asked me how I knew
It was Esso Blue.
I of course replies
With lower grades one buys
Smoke gets in your eyes."
@@paulsengupta971 I remember it well 😄
@@petemulhearn7787 Blue blue blue blue, Esso blue.
Dear Cuni, (you have to watch and listen very carefully to get all of your jokes)
I call it fuel and I try to remember to put the Green hose in my Hayabusa and the Black hose in my BMW.
You need to follow up with a video on coal tar soap. If you squeeze coal hard enough, it doesn't turn into a diamond but an orange antibacterial soap, and the by-product is coke (or cola to some).
The advert for Movril though! What would Barmite say? (And for those of you outside of the UK, normal service will resume as soon as possible.)
Just popping down the road, to fill the car up, with Headlice Spirit.......
In Italian the word "petrolio" is used to refer to crude oil. If you wanted to fuel your car you would be looking for "benzina" (petrol) or "gasolio" (diesel). The first one coming from the chemical compound benzene. Gas would be instead a gaseous fuel either "GPL" (LPG) or "metano" (natural gas or methane), these are very common on cars, vans or public transport busses.
Fascinating and Excellent video. The name Carless still exists as an oil refinery in Harwich
Interesting. I felt it needed a spiralling drone shot of you waving at the end though :)
I removed my head lice by pouring motor spirit on my head and setting it on fire. It worked ! No more nits but no more hair.
Some glorious pedantry and the wonderfully daft name of “carless petrol”!
In Albanian, we call it a mixture of the names "benzinë", "naftë", "gaz(olinë)" and "vajguri" (but vajguri is more to do with kerosene in oil lamps or whatever).
Benzin is also used in Germany and Czech republic
Fantastic stuff Jon McPedant. Another great production!
He strikes me more as a Jon Pedantic, esq
@@badhippo I remember Viz once had a story called 'Pedantics' Corner' Someone wrote in to say that it should have been called 'Pedants' Corner'. Hilarious!!
"The pedants are revolting!"
@@paulsengupta971 I know, I can smell them from here!!
Turkey's entry in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest was about petrol (with the name 'Pet'r Oil'). The English version of the song ('Loving on Petrol') is even more blatant about its subject matter, and the French version ('Le roi du pétrole') is probably the same, but referring to some rich oil magnate.
It's Petrol, as in Petroleum Spirit. Not Gasoline, as the Americans insist. But what would you expect from a country that has spray-on cheese, and can't get the date in the correct order, (small, bigger, biggest).
In Slovenia, there's a brand of filling stations called Petrol. The Slovenian for 'petrol' is 'bencin'. The company, like many energy companies, has diversified into multiple energy sources, so you can buy electricity from Petrol, but you don't buy it from a Petrol station, which doesn't sell petrol, it sells bencin.
Benzene is found in both diesel and petrol. Not sure that the Slovenians have solved the nomenclature issue any more successfully.
You misspelled "aunt." ROFLMAO. Brilliantlyy done!
I love the smell of petrol...and Evo-Stik...and various other solvents.
@Mark Cresswell
Don't tell anybody.
Somewhere I have a book "pioneers of petrol" which covers refining experiements in factories (basically sheds) along the Lea Valley in London (Essex border then) sort of just north of Stratford.
Thanks for sharing great little nugget of knowledge
Exactly what I was looking for. Deserves more likes!!!
Thank you. I correctly identified the plot of land where Petrol™ originated in the local area in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, but just couldn't find (online) the evidence you've managed to locate in your research. There's probably flats on there now - I'll have to go back and check.
If there's any empty space in London or old buildings, you can guarantee they'll build some overpriced, generic, ugly flats on the land.
@@izzieb Or a Starbucks
See book - Pioneers of Petrol.
Bloody brilliant research and presentation.
How about a campaign to bring back the term DERV? As in: "one of my cars runs on motor spirit, and the other one runs on DERV".
Oh, and the bit at 1:28 had me in stitches.
'cos DERV is an acronim of Diesel Engine Road Vehicle.
I'd forgotton about DERV, as I remember it was a term used for commercial vehicle fuel at a time when 95% of cars were petrol engined in the UK. It faded out in the early '90s at about the time we were all encouraged to buy diesel cars.
@@johnmccallum8512 exactly. You'd see it on busses to notify that it has a diesel engine so put diesel in and since it's a road vehicle, don't use red diesel. I used to do electrical testing at Hyde park on the pumps. (I'm CompEX certified) They had 2 diesel pumps. Diesel for road vehicles and red diesel for private road vehicles and other machinery
When I was 16 I got my first motor vehicle, a Honda moped. The instruction book called the petrol tap a "petcock". At the time I just thought it was some kind of quirky translation from Japanese. I don't think I heard that word again until the last year or two, when I started watching American RUclips videos about vehicles and stuff with engines. If Americans don't have the word "petrol", why do they call petrol taps "petcocks"?
Merriam-Webster has your answer. It may be derived from "petty cock" (a "cock" is a valve or faucet, in this case), so a small valve or faucet.
They treat their cars as pets and filling up is satisfying their pets cock?
Pet cock is what I call my....
not faucets then ?
A petcock was an industry name for a small bore lever operated brass stopcock. I don't know if that word is still used, probably not.
These are great! You could have them as short podcasts too - I accidentally did it as my phone was linked to my car and it turns out that with YT premium you can listen to videos with the screen locked 🤯
Such beautiful quillmanship!
It's often said that the British are poor at learning other languages. It's not true. Most of us understand several different versions of English.
technically gas is correct and petrol is incorrect, as gas is short for gasoline and petrol is short for petroleum, petroleum is an oil byproduct that CAN BE REFINED INTO GASOLINE, meaning petrol isn't gas yet. that means the stuff that goes into your car isn't petrol, its a refined fuel that is made from many different chemicals including refined petrol, and its called gasoline, meaning gas is correct as its the shorted version of the actual name, not some increment used in its making.
Super Unleaded Premium Content - my E5 replacement for E10 provided elsewhere.❤
Most of central Europe call it Benzine/Benzina....Love your vids and all the research you put into them.
In FRG we talk Diesel, Benzin, Super (Benzin), Kerosin. Some companies e.g. Shell have numbers too (90 till 102). In Greece we use Diesel, Oktan 87, 92, 95. In Kingdom of Thailand it is Diesel, Octan 90 (Benzin) , Octan 95 (Super), Octan 100, Kerosin. In Germany 0 till 15% Ethanol inside, e.g. Benzin10 have 10% Ethanol in Octan 87/92 ...
Except benzene is only one component of motor spirit, so that's a misnomer too.
@@mgutkowski I suppose it had somehting to do with the (mentioned in the video) Carl Benz ? just guessing.
@@mgutkowskibut benzin and benzene are different words.
Spanish has everything figured out. Petroleum is what you get from the ground, Gas is something in a gaseous state, Naphtha is what you put into Otto cycle cars, then you have kerosene for cleaning floors (also planes perhaps?), Diesel for good Euro V+ Diesel engines, Gasoil for large trucks with shitty engines
Corporal Jones van ran on gas. Until the unfortunate incident of the anti aircraft drill.
I'm always sure to have a spirited drive after I fill up with motor spirit 🙂
And then I break down as I remember it's a 330d not a 330i 🙃
Only the worst kind of idiots buy BMWs, there as bad as Ford but more expensive so the VFM is much worse.
The Germans and Dutch call it "benzine" which is especially confusing since it's not at all like benzene.
No but Carl Benz's name probably had something to do with it.
@@el_es I always assumed so, but I've just gone and researched this and found that actually there is no connection, surprisingly. Both benzene and benzine were named long before Karl Benz came along.
I prefer guzzline from mad max. It certainly describes the appetite of my 25 year old bmw
A very clear and top explanation. Thank you
Napthalene from chemistry lessons was a pink , semi toxic. semi explosive fractal of refining. There were a couple of Naptha filling stations - one on the A1? and one(two?) near windmill bridge in Southall, west london.
"We're all wrong" is my favorite outcome to pointless arguments. :D Plus this is an interesting and informative video.
Whatever you call it, it's too fucking expensive.
Carless are still in business today as Carless Refining and Marketing. They make and blend speciality fuels for motorsports and engine testing (I used to buy a product called Carcal 50, a fuel blended for cold start testing of diesel engines at subzero temperatures)
We all know it's really called "motion lotion" or "moving juice" 😂
It's not petrol or gas, it's just f@#* ing expensive
Looking forward to the episode about diesel.
nice video, truly fascinating. Extra fact is that, as far as i know, the correct term for petrol station is filling station
Just a mine of useful information. Interesting AF.
Yes! Interesting autofocus!
I once worked on tankers and and LPG carriers and have spent many a happy hour (not) in the Persian Gulf and Libya with the stuff so have long been familiar with the names of various products made from crude oil (petroleum).
Gasoline, shortened to gas by the Americans, is probably the most common term for petrol and is varied for products like Avgas.
I have always used the term Kerosene and not Paraffin, the main reason being that Paraffin is a term used for a specific range of molecules of the formula CnH2n+2 covering Methane, Ethane,......Octane, etc. although these are generally called Alkanes now.
I also have some choice words to call the E10 petrol as my 2001 Honda StepWgn campervan doesn't like it and needs the more expensive E5 super.
Alcohol is a term which also covers a range of stuff, but I'm still going to use the word when it comes to beer.
You mentioned Asphalt, it’d be great to see you do a video about Radcliffe Road, the worlds first Tarmac road
Well bugger me with a baton! You learn something new every day!
In the industry it's known as BOB or base oil blendstock to which we add ethanol to make marketable fuel. Or SuperBOB for super UL
that was fun and informative john.
In all my 40 years I have always called it petrol😂😂 a great and insightful video as always Mate.
Very educational and entertaining. Great video.
I still call Petrol Petrol and Diesel Diesel. Plus there used to be LGR (Lead Replacement Petrol) or LRG (Lead Replacement Gas) before it was stopped. And both Petrol and Diesel would be replaced by Hydrogen and Methane.
And of course many newer vehicles are becoming battery powered or battery operated to cut down on Co2 emissions and climate change.
I am both better informed and entertained - bloody excellent
ooh!! ooh!!!!! Now do Kerosene (US) and Paraffin (UK), adding the fun part that heating oil in the UK is also called "Kerosine", but with an i, like apple stuff, but in the wrong place... :P
Loved this, thank you.
No idea why btw.
This weeks secrets of the motorway episode shall be the North Chester motorway M56
Now I can baffle my mates 👍🏼
Cheers John
Would've been nice if they'd at least have shortened it to "gasol". Gas is a confusing name for a liquid when cars that are actually powered by gas exist, or "natural gas", or "LPG", or whatever, as we annoyingly have to call it now.
And what are "gas prices" anyway? Nobody can answer that with confidence.
In a parallel timeline, we would've been driving pet powered cars. Come to think of it, we did in the past.
To add to the confusion, I believe diesel can also be referred to as "gas oil" and that still exist as the corrupted French "gazole" which is synonymous with diesel, a word the French also use for it, and incidentally pronounce badly (dee-ay-zel). In German, the word is Benzin despite benzene not being synonymous with petrol/gasoline.
This can of worms just keeps getting bigger. Checkout what the French call diesel at their pumps.
Back at Shell, we used to call it ‘mogas’ - short for ‘motor gasoline’
Carless Petrol. I love the irony. You just can't make this up. Also paraffin and kerosene would be a good one to know. There was James 'Paraffin' Young and his shale oil in Broxburn, Scotland, around 1859 or so. I was told in school chemistry that paraffin was a contraction of para- or par- affinity, hence the two f's in the word.
Here in Thailand they fill up with Benzine.
I'm old enough to remember the company National Benzole as a well known fuel brand, of course Benzole was made from coal but it was blended with petroleum spirit.
On another note, I give you a verse from a rugby song.
She was only the mechanics daughter but she knew the smell of Benzole!
Didn't know it was made from coal. Remember their tv adverts - Get away people use National Benzole
@@glen1555 In that case you'll remember:
Keep going well, keep going Shell
You can be sure of Shell, Shell, Shell.
Oh, and:
Boom, boom boom, boom, Esso Blue!
Fun fact: naphtha is basically just petroleum but with an older purification system, since the 'white spirit' form clogs gas lamps less
And to make it more fun, nafta is what couple places say for diesel.
Because apparently diesel is supposed to only be the engine type, not what it burns.
Excellent video as always!
Ads I got:
GoPro (#13)
We Stand With Türkiye (#1)
GBP 1.589ppl ?!?! In Melbourne (Australia) average price is equiv GBP .75ppl. (And we think that's expensive!!).
I've just checked online. It's closer to 90p for unleaded, which is still good. Fuel duty on unleaded is 46 cents in Australia and the equivalent of A$1.04 in the UK. That would account for a good chunk of the difference. The higher rate of VAT (20%) would be the rest.
Jon, I am always intrigued t the story lines that catch your attention. I wonder if there is confusion now that what the US calls "natural gas" is being used as a motor vehicle fuel, especially in larger formerly fueled by the hated product over hear we call "diesel." Ask a stranger "Where can I get some gas?" and you just might get a referral to a Grade B restaurant. 🤣
As a francophonian (I am NOT French !!), those words always confused me because "gas" looks like "gaz" as air, oxygene, helium, propane... and farts ! so it's NOT petroleum product !!!
Cazeline >> Gazoline ??? Mouahahaha.... and people still use this name ??!? Unbelievable ....
Yeah, it's not a gas.
As an American, you're just going to have to deal with us calling it gas, short for gasoline, and not at all indicative of its state of matter. And also it's got to be vaporized to explode anyway, so it's in a gaseous state when it's actually powering your (for those values of "your" that don't include those of us driving electric) cars.
In Greek (and maybe other European languages) petrol it's called something from the root of the word benzene (βενζίνη), and diesel petroleum (πετρέλαιο - literally stone oil)
Name are derived from sources. Scientific sources are more robust than some guy coming out with a trade name. For example. Adrenaline is called epinephrine by Americans, however, it comes from the adrenal gland... this is why more doctors in the US are starting to call it adrenaline, because it makes more sense, and epinephrine was plucked from thin air.
Petrol is the main distilate from petrolium products. It was originally called cazeline... well that's not Gas. As usual it was bastardised by the yanks.
So to confuse matters somewhat:
When we press the accelerator it lets more air into the engine, specifically oxygen for combustion. Oxygen is of course a gas.
Perhaps this is where the term ‘gas pedal’ originates?
Possibly or that the vapour that comes from petrol is also a gas
Was Benzine from coal - National Benzine seemed to be the other road fuels division of BP, they had smurfs advertising them in the 1980s
I love the old feather quill pen and the letter ha ha ha
Definitely not an unleaded presentation👏👏👍😀
I will call it petrol myself as gas surely is a power supply too of course?!
Petrol is excellent for removing glues. Like really good. Those sticky label marks on things... 😂