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This is probably just me being ignorant, but I had to look up whether or not petrol was standard gasoline.

I don't think it is ignorance, just colloquial terminology coming into play.

I am curious though, is the USA the only place that calls it 'gas'? I've lived and travelled through most places in Oceania, Asia and Europe and almost everywhere else it is called 'petrol' and places that serve it are called 'petrol stations'. To me 'gas' is an entirely separate product, viz LPG gas, which a lot of taxis etc. use at the moment.

Yes, indeed, in Eastern Europe we refer to LPG as gas, and petrol as, well, petrol :)

Apparently it's common in all of North America.

Personally, I think "motor spirit" is a kickass name for it.

I prefer the term "motor scotch".

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