4 ms·
To clarify for the Americans, "pavements" means sidewalks in this case, correct?
by tlrobinson 7y ago
To clarify for the Americans, "pavements" means sidewalks in this case, correct?
- Carpetsmoker 7y agoYes, it's the same.
- Stratoscope 7y agoThat's exactly what I was confused about too. You must be right. Imagine saying "you can't ride on the pavement, you have to ride on the street!" You and I would be scratching our heads, thinking the street is paved. Aha! I just noticed a clue: "pavements". That is a word that almost doesn't exist in English. It's like "sands" or "waters". Those are actual words, but it's pretty rare to see them.
- kwhitefoot 7y ago> That is a word that almost doesn't exist in English American English. It's perfectly ordinary in British English. In British English although the road is usually paved the use of pavement in that sense is a jargon word applying to a particular trade (road building or mending) whereas pavement in general means what American English calls a sidewalk. Also paving in British English generally brings to mind paving slabs not tarmac even though most pavements are of course tarmac. And tarmac is also mostly British English for asphalt.
- Stratoscope 7y agoThanks for the clarification. Of course I meant American English. That's what I get for commenting from my phone in the late evening! "Two great peoples divided by a common language..."
- derrikcurran 7y agoWhat is the sidewalk called in British English when the sidewalk is not paved?
- philwelch 7y agoI always found it strange that American English uses “tarmac” almost exclusively for the tarmac at the airport beside the runway while British English uses “pavement” almost exclusively for the pavement on the street beside where the cars go.
- kwhitefoot 7y agoYes, British English pavement means American sidewalk. I suspect that when the word was first used only that part of the street was paved. See https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pavement https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pavement
- majewsky 7y agoIn German, sidewalks are called "Bürgersteig", which means "citizens' step". Probably because the middle part of the street was used by peasants and merchants bringing goods into the city on carriages, while the citizens were walking on the sidewalks.
- jamesrcole 7y agoAnd FWIW in Australia they're called footpaths.
- rogual 7y agoIn the UK, official signage often calls them that, but it's not something ordinary people tend to say.
- jamesrcole 7y agoInteresting. Over here they're called footpaths in everyday spoken language.