Several years ago, I asked an American friend of mine who was living in
Germany to investigate fiberglass fenders for my TR3. He called the place
in the UK that I had seen listed in Hemmings, but they absolutely could not
figure out why anyone would want to put fenders on a car ! They asked
around a bit, and finally someone twigged that they were talking to a
'Yank', and he really wanted wings. Whereupon, my friend said "No, this is
a car, not a plane !". A good chuckle was had by all (but I never did get
my fenders, er, I mean wings).
Just in case you are confused by the above, in British English, a 'fender'
is something you put on the side of a boat, to keep it from hitting the
dock. The piece of metal (or fiberglass) that goes over the top of the
wheels on a car is called a 'wing'. In American English, the thing over
the wheels on a car is a 'fender', and a 'wing' is what allows airplanes
(aeroplanes) to fly.
Randall
On Monday, August 09, 1999 9:55 AM, Brian Johnson
[SMTP:b.johnson@diamond.co.uk] wrote:
>
> Don't worry Phil - to us across the pond the American way of spelling
> is all wrong anyway - I'm just getting used to the 'alternative' word
> set you guys use as well, I'm even calling a wing a fender sometimes,
> and rocker panels really threw me for a start until I realised that they
> really are sills.......... just remeber when we say HOOD we really mean
> the rag top that fits over your head when its rains and not the bonnet !
>
> Brian Johnson
|