Over here in what the Brits call colonies we call mechanics "wrenchs" or if someone is fixing his(her)bike etc, we might say they are wrenching on bike.Wonder if Brits call mechs.spanners or they are spannering?
Ttied to correct my spelling in heading,cant do it i see.

Stapfam should be rolling out of his trundle bed any time now over there. We'll see what he has to say.

A Mechanic is a mechanic.

But I am in the Motor trade- We Don't have mechanics- With "Wordese"- they are now technicians. No idea why because as motor vehicles have become more technical- All they have become is Fitters. You plug the vehicle into a computer and it tells you what is wrong with it. You then "Fit" the replacement part and your job is done. NOthing ever gets repaired nowadays.

But wrenching is a bike term. I often have wrenching to do out on the offroad rides. Wrenching the bars back into line- or nursing that muscle back home that has just been wrenched.

Actually had tongue in cheek a little bit,but i still have relatives in UK so know most of the differences in our "English"except the above one.

I noticed that the Brits use the term "puncture" for flats.

I noticed on a folder site, someone bought a bike at a boot sale.Now i know Brits call a car trunk a boot.Wondering if its actually what we call garage sale or a yard sale deal?Stepfam help.

A Boot fair is normally held in a field where you have to drive your car to. You drive to it- unload your boot (Trunk) and sell from it. Can be a big operation and locally we have a couple a month that will have up to 1,000 Sellers and up to 10,000 buyers.

Now a Table sale- is normally held in a Village Hall where you "Hire" a table for the stuff you have driven to. A Lot smaller and not many about.

Garage sales- are just that. In your house and you sell all your old "Tat". Someone will want it.

Lots of other terms cycling related- Punctures is only one. But riding on the road is Riding on the Tarmac. Apparantly it can be dangerous over there with jumbos landing on you (Airports).

I've read most of Tristan Jones' books. He often refers to the British Navy as the "Andrew"; especially in Heart Of Oak about WWII.

Stapfam, I know you were in the Royal Marines; what was the nickname for that branch?

Yup! getting caught on tarmac over here, without permission will get you in a ton of trouble.Especially with terrorist stuff going on.
I think i would like boot fairs.We have flea markets where people rent tables to sell junk,im hopelessly hooked on them.Dont buy much,but looking is half the fun.

Never heard the term "Andrew" so don't know.

Royal marines and I suppose the nicknames are the same- Green Berets and Bootnecks. Unless you are a recruit and then it was Baby Bootneck. There is one branch of the Marines that we never used to talk about- The SBS (Special boat section) You just called them sir as you lay prostrate in front of them. Saved the waking up if you lay on the floor before they knocked you down.


Regular army and Most are not repeatable- Pongo is the one that sticks in my mind- Cause everywhere the Army goes- the Pong goes.

And the RAF- you just respected. If a marine visited an RAF base- you went up one grade in promotion. When I was an instructor- we used to visit an RAF base at the end of a training exercise. As no-one wore badges of rank- they treated us all as officers and we eat in the officers mess. And as we may have been High ranking officers- We got the full treatment and all our gear was washed and ironed by the following morning when we left. If they could give us that treatment- you did not upset them.