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Comment by Stratoscope | Hacker News Reader

That's exactly what I was confused about too. You must be right.

Imagine saying "you can't ride on the pavement, you have to ride on the street!"

You and I would be scratching our heads, thinking the street is paved.

Aha! I just noticed a clue: "pavements". That is a word that almost doesn't exist in English. It's like "sands" or "waters". Those are actual words, but it's pretty rare to see them.

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> That is a word that almost doesn't exist in English American English.

It's perfectly ordinary in British English. In British English although the road is usually paved the use of pavement in that sense is a jargon word applying to a particular trade (road building or mending) whereas pavement in general means what American English calls a sidewalk.

Also paving in British English generally brings to mind paving slabs not tarmac even though most pavements are of course tarmac. And tarmac is also mostly British English for asphalt.

Thanks for the clarification. Of course I meant American English. That's what I get for commenting from my phone in the late evening!

"Two great peoples divided by a common language..."

What is the sidewalk called in British English when the sidewalk is not paved?

footpath

verge

I always found it strange that American English uses “tarmac” almost exclusively for the tarmac at the airport beside the runway while British English uses “pavement” almost exclusively for the pavement on the street beside where the cars go.

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