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Now that gas powered cars are becoming more common, the term "gas guzzlers" is misleading and perhaps should be dropped.
Edited by L'escargot on 02/07/2008 at 10:51
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Why not drop all other american words as well. Might take us back to a calmer time and place ;)
pmh
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From Wikipedia, the first stop for aspiring pedants:
'The word "gasolene" was coined in 1865 from the word gas and the chemical suffix -ine/-ene. The modern spelling was first used in 1871. The shortened form "gas" was first recorded in American English in 1905. Gasoline originally referred to any liquid used as the fuel for a gasoline-powered engine, other than diesel fuel or liquefied gas; methanol racing fuel would have been classed as a type of gasoline.
The word "petrol" was first used in reference to the refined substance as early as 1892 (it was previously used to refer to unrefined petroleum), and was registered as a trade name by British wholesaler Carless, Capel & Leonard at the suggestion of Frederick Richard Simms. Although it was never officially registered as a trademark, Carless's competitors used the term "Motor Spirit" until the 1930s. It has also been suggested that the word was coined by Edward Butler in 1887.'
Yes, back to a calmer time and place, when a tank of motor spirit wouldn't set you back a week's wages. Back to that time.. when was it?... must have been about a year ago.
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But then we'd have to say "Step on the petrol", which sounds a bit silly. But I suppose all these expressions based on obsolete means of propulsion have their day - when was the last time you heard anyone refer to "cooking petrol" or "steam radio" ?
An interesting back-formation I have heard is "unleaded milk".
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"cooking petrol" - as in ordinary, so 2 star?
"step on the gas" sounds just as silly as "step on the petrol". And the former is an Americanism. Put your foot down is my own preferred version.
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I think it's short for "gas pedal".
Put your foot down also has the opposite meaning, as in put a stop to something - more akin to using the brake pedal.
But better than "gunning it" !
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What about just using the correct words? Then you could have a (dark) green car which guzzled (LP) gas.
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