# Do you say car park or parking lot?



## Fey (Nov 4, 2014)

Just commented somewhere and it reminded me of a conversation I had the other day about whether people say car park or parking lot.

I say car park but now that I think about it, parking lot does make a lot more sense since car park can mean just one space too which would then also be parking spot in which case, which one would you say then?

Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud here.


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Parking lot. I've never heard an American call it a car park.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Parking lot. I've never heard an American call it a car park.


^^ This


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## Memories of Silence (May 15, 2015)

Car park.


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## firestar (Jun 27, 2009)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Parking lot. I've never heard an American call it a car park.


Same.


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## KotaBear96 (Dec 11, 2017)

Car Park


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## Scrub-Zero (Feb 9, 2004)

Parking lot.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

parking lot


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## Crisigv (Aug 3, 2013)

Parking lot. I think of a Subaru commercial where they were actually playing together in a field, if I see "car park".


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## mt moyt (Jul 29, 2015)

car park


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## Mlt18 (Jun 29, 2016)

Parking lot


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## h00dz (Dec 25, 2012)

In Australia is all car park. I don't think I have ever heard someone say parking lot. :lol


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## Fever Dream (Aug 18, 2015)

Parking lot, because that's the American way!


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## Cascades (Jan 16, 2013)

I dont think anyone says parking lot here in Australia.


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## ravens (Aug 31, 2011)

Parking lot.


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## scooby (Jun 24, 2009)

I call it vroom vroom stay.


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## Red2N (Oct 7, 2017)

Erm. Car park.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

Car park, don't think anyone in the UK says parking lot.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

scooby said:


> I call it vroom vroom stay.


hehe I like it.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Bird poop depository.


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## Fey (Nov 4, 2014)

scooby said:


> I call it vroom vroom stay.


You were the inspiration for my third option.


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## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

So the conclusion pretty much... Americans called it Parking Lot. (Unless you're a sophisticated hipster) Any English speaking country outside of America calls it Car Park.


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## MCHB (Jan 1, 2013)

Place of doing-the-doughnuts in winter.


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Blue Dino said:


> Any English speaking country outside of America calls it Car Park.


 That explains why they're all so backwards. Everybody knows you don't car your park.


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## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

Guess here's a interesting list..

https://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/usvsbrenglish.html



WillYouStopDave said:


> That explains why they're all so backwards. Everybody knows you don't car your park.


My guess it means its a park for your cars? Since park means opened space? :stu


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Blue Dino said:


> My guess it means its a park for your cars? Since park means opened space? :stu


 I still like parking lot better. "Parking space" would be even better and straightforward.


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## LydeaCharlotteGirl (Aug 27, 2013)

WillYouStopDave said:


> I still like parking lot better. "Parking space" would be even better and straightforward.


Not being American or Canadian, I say car park. Though actually in some contexts, such as just speaking generally and (I guess maybe), at some events like a show that takes place on an all-grass showground, the term parking area may be used (at least in Britain). Here also, "Parking space" means any individual space you park your car in. Not just in a car park, but also for example in streets of row houses.


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## firestar (Jun 27, 2009)

WillYouStopDave said:


> That explains why they're all so backwards. Everybody knows you don't car your park.


We also park on a driveway and drive on a parkway.


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## Whatev (Feb 6, 2012)

Car park sounds cute.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

Nobody in the USA says "car park".


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

firestar said:


> We also park on a driveway and drive on a parkway.


I think parkway is an east coast thing. Never heard that when I was growing up. Californians say freeway or highway. Freeway is more for local transport and highway is more to go to another region or another state. People would look at me funny when I said freeway in NYC.

Don't know what people say in the mid-west or the south.


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## roxslide (Apr 12, 2011)

Do Canadians also say Car Park or Parking Lot? 

Yeah I've never heard Car Park before.. if you said Car Park to me before this thread I'd continue waiting for you to finish your sentence lol.


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## birddookie (Jan 8, 2018)

komorikun said:


> I think parkway is an east coast thing. Never heard that when I was growing up. Californians say freeway or highway. Freeway is more for local transport and highway is more to go to another region or another state. People would look at me funny when I said freeway in NYC.
> 
> Don't know what people say in the mid-west or the south.


From how I was raised and friends call it.

This is a Freeway to us. Charlotte, Atlanta, and Jacksonville has some.










We use Highway and Interstate for state to state traveling.

And for everything else like town sized roads we just call it road, or name the street.:laugh:

@roxslide Crisigv is Canadian and she said Parking lot. It might be a North American thing, would love to see some people from Central and South America, Asia, and Africa reply. Lol ...where at?


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Parking lot


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## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

I guess British english have a more abstract way of using words, while American english tend to have more emphasis in the word being straight forward. Park in this context is used as a noun. As a noun a park is an open space, a park. So in American english, the term is used straight, direct and precise for what it is as a figure of speech. A parking lot, a lot of parking your car. 

For British, the "car park" park is actually a verb in this regard. Yet here it is being used as a noun even though it is actually in the form of a verb. Car parking. Park. Which kind of makes the term confusing. Car park itself is a verb. Yet here it is being used to describe a place, a noun. It's weird... 

So when one says "car park" one would ask "yeah.. car park.. what?"


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## firestar (Jun 27, 2009)

komorikun said:


> I think parkway is an east coast thing. Never heard that when I was growing up. Californians say freeway or highway. Freeway is more for local transport and highway is more to go to another region or another state. People would look at me funny when I said freeway in NYC.
> 
> Don't know what people say in the mid-west or the south.


Interesting. We don't say freeway over here, but there are a few parkways around. The one close to me is terrible. People go highway speeds but there are stoplights.


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## JerryAndSports (Jul 13, 2018)

Definitely parking lot lol if ever nver heard car park


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## Paper Samurai (Oct 1, 2009)

Car Park. It does makes sense when you think about it.


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## SD92 (Nov 9, 2013)

Car Park


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## 8888 (Oct 16, 2014)

I always say parking lot.


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## Barakiel (Oct 31, 2013)

No offense to anyone who uses it but ‘car park’ reminds me of ‘yard sard’.


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## Fanta can (Aug 13, 2011)

Barakiel said:


> No offense to anyone who uses it but 'car park' reminds me of 'yard sard'.


That one drives me nuts. It's clearly called 'yale sael'. Always has been.


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## Jim5840 (Jul 28, 2018)

Parking lot ftw


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

Parking lot, never heard car park until I started watching British series


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## BAH (Feb 12, 2012)

Park lit


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

I call car dealerships car lots. To answer the real question, I say parking lot.


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## andy1984 (Aug 18, 2006)

kiwis say car park


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