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What's up with the British calling refined gasoline "petrol"? It's not even an abbreviation for the word, it's a totally different material? You don't go calling refined aluminium "bauxite", but you do call gasoline "petrol".

We're both wrong. It's a liquid at room temperature, and it's called not petroleum.



Yes, we all know the French are right on this one by calling it "essence"


Seems cromulent to me. One of the common meanings of essence is "a product of distillation" (compare e.g. essential oils - oils won through steam distillation). And gasoline is won through fancy distillation


Do you call water “steam juice”?




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