Then I started thinking about why Shell and BP and SPC are all known as Petrol Stations here in Singapore (and in Malaysia).
Then it hit me that it's the centuries-old difference between British English and American English.
It's slightly different when we turn on all those American TV dramas and we hear Michael Scofield going "we need to fill up the gas" (whereas we say it's time to "top up the petrol").
While surfing around, I came across the following image:
It's easy to see why this is funny.
The parallel placement of the eating and getting makes for good smiles on that American stretch of road. If only we had such linguistic humour in squeaky-clean Singapore.
For those who aren't too familiar with that colloquial usage of "gas", it merely means, funnily and crudely, that when you eat at the diner, you'll emit flatulence (pass gas = fart).
More than laughs however, it was the "gas" that got me thinking. Why is it that the signer used "get gas" instead of "fill up on gas"? Most likely, it was to do with being financially economical.
Hey, more letters on the sign means more money paid, right? And of course, there's the bit of accidental humour.
Curiously enough, I didn't actually use terms like "gas station" in the past. It was only when I start watching more American TV dramas that I made that association and addition to my own lexical choice. There have been a few times when chatting with someone whom I know to be American, I found myself using "gas station" rather than "petrol station".
Perhaps it was to be accommodating, or maybe it was to show that I knew what the Yanks would call a petrol station.
In any case, we won't have that issue here in Singapore though, since we all merely "top up" the "petrol".
No gas for me, thank you. I'd rather keep the air clean.
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