8mm Forum: Emergency Brake

This is topic Emergency Brake in forum 16mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on November 26, 2014, 04:11 AM:

Just been running a Castle 16mm print of "The Bank Dick" where W.C.Fields is driving the bank robber on a wild ride with the car falling to pieces.

After most of the pedals have been pushed through the floor the robber asks Fields "where's your emergency brake?"

"Here" says Fields, pulling it off its fixing, and handing it to the robber, who's sitting in the back.

We, in the UK, call this item a Hand Brake. Is it still referred to in the US as an emergency brake?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 07:49 AM:

Yes, sometimes a "parking brake" too.

Do you call it a hand brake when it is a floor pedal?

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on November 26, 2014, 08:26 AM:

No. Foot brake.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 08:34 AM:

Interesting!

We have a "gas pedal". I guess in places where people put Petrol in their tanks it's an "accelerator".

(What do drivers of Diesel cars call it? "C'mon Roy, we're late! Step on the Diesel!")

A clutch is a clutch is a clutch, they're just getting harder and harder to find these days.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on November 26, 2014, 08:51 AM:

Now on one car we once rented in the USA the hand/parking brake was a foot brake, but the release was by hand. Its this a fondbrake?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 1183) on November 26, 2014, 09:13 AM:

Many years ago, I owned a 1980 Triumph TR8. Bought it new from the dealer. The owners manual had so many quaint words. The "hood" was the "bonnet". A bonnet is a woman's hat over here. The "trunk" was the "boot". A boot is something you put over your shoe to protect it during inclement weather.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 09:27 AM:

I used to work for a company that has a division in the UK. Their sales manager goes all over the world to show customers their products, so he basically drives anything, anywhere.

-the one thing that kept getting him was leaving his hotel jetlagged and bleary eyed, sitting down in his rent-a-car and finding nothing but dashboard in front of him!

An old friend of mine from East Anglia lived in Holland for a while, and when he moved home he brought his VW Bug with him.

He'd sit in the right seat reading the paper while his wife drove in the left, just to see people's reaction to it!

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on November 26, 2014, 10:22 AM:

In the UK the Volkswagon Bug is known as a Beetle.
http://www.beetle.com/int/en/home

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 10:36 AM:

Here "Bug" is a nickname for the Beetle (which is actually also a nickname...).

Someone who never called the Beetle a "Beetle" (or a "Bug") is Volkswagen themselves.

-until the "New Beetle" came about.

I was debating getting a New Beetle (maybe even the convertible.) when my Mustang GT finally fritzed out after 25 years. I got a Honda Civic coupe instead: built like an Elmo!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on November 26, 2014, 11:15 AM:

The little compartment in the front to the car is called a "Glove Box". However, I'm originally from farm country in Oregon. My grandpa and cousins always called it a "Jockey Box". My Oregon family have a lot of different names for things. A wallet is a "Bill Fold" and a couch is a "Davenport".

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 11:56 AM:

"Davenport" is a Canadian word, how far North are they?

English is wonderfully regional. My brother in law's family is from Syracuse and their houses have "cellars". Here on Long Island we have "basements".

-and remember: this is within the same state!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on November 26, 2014, 12:08 PM:

Steve...according to Wikipedia "Davenport was the name of a series of sofas made by the Massachusetts furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company, now defunct." These sofas must have been popular in Canada too. [Smile]

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on November 26, 2014, 12:08 PM:

Could one of our British member tell us the difference between basement and cellar ? Am I right if I think that the word basement refers to any room or space below the ground floor and that the word cellar refers to a room in the basement that has a specific purpose like a wine cellar ? Or am I making a wrong interpretation ?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on November 26, 2014, 12:29 PM:

At least locally a cellar is usually more unfinished storage space (wine cellar, root cellar). A basement can be too, but as it becomes more and more oriented towards people living there it is usually called a "basement", explicitly a "finished basement".

When somebody here says "cellar" it usually means bare bulbs, exposed beams and cobwebs, never couches (not davenports) carpeting and tiled ceilings.

I think the biggest difference is that a "basement" is explicitly inside the foundation of a building. A "cellar" could be an enclosed space below ground without a building over head. (Example: a storm cellar)

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on November 26, 2014, 01:47 PM:

Wow the english language is probably one of the most difficult to understand for many people. So many nouns for the same thing and new verbs being constantly made from nouns. e.g. the noun "Rubbish is often now used as a verb "to rubbish" meaning to throw it away or dismiss something someone has said or written!! Americans also spell words differently to the way we do here. Spell checkers are an example. In the U.K. the bonnet of a car is at the front and you lift it up to get to the engine. The "Boot" is at the rear where you stow the luggage etc. It is also something you wear on your foot! The foot brake is the pedal to stop the car and is to the right of the clutch pedal on right hand drive cars i.e. for use on roads where you drive on the left of the road. The accelerator pedal is what you put your right foot on to increase the speed of the engine and thus the speed of the car. The hand brake is the lever brake used to keep the vehicle stationary when not being driven. It is not an emergency brake. The basement and cellar nowadays both mean a room underground but the cellar used to be an area of the basement used for storing wine or beer or coal. Very few modern houses in the U.K. are built with a basement or cellar! We have never had Davenports but have 2 or 3 seater "settees" and matching "armchairs" which collectively are known as 3 piece suites. We also have sofas and sofa beds!!! Confusing is'nt (is it not)!!!!
Ken Finch. [Wink]

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on November 26, 2014, 02:10 PM:

Thanks, Steve and Ken !

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