Yankee  +  353529 Fri, 20 Apr 07 09:12 PM Hi Goodman There are more British words for parts of a car which tend to be very entertaining to an American ear.  For example, a British car also has a bonnet (not a hood) and wings (not fenders). Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,499 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

	Yoong Liat  +  353533 Fri, 20 Apr 07 09:22 PM Hi Goodman You wrote: I think you missed the humor in my repsonse. "I am loading up my boot", as boots we put on our feet.  As to the correctness of vincent's sentence. I'll say this. It sounded really awkward to me. I would just say " they are loading the things into the trunk". My apologies for  missing your humour, but I think you should have said, "I am loading up my boots." Vincent's sentence 'They loaded their things into the car boot" is in the simple past tense, but yours is in the present continuous tense. So, to me, both sentences are fine. Best wishes Yoong Liat Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006 Veteran Member 6,757 Tenses, Present Continuous, Simple Past, Past Tenses

	Goodman  +  353560 Fri, 20 Apr 07 11:41 PM Hi Liat, You said: but I think you should have said, "I am loading up my boots." I wasn't looking for an  apology, therefore there is no need for one. I believe the original word was "boot" and so I used the "singular" context in my response. I fully realized it was "one foot" in "I am loading up my boot" without the ultrafine teeth of your English comb. It was meant to be humorous. Loading / loaded wasn't really important for it was not relevent. I think you have a tendancy to critique when you can. Personally, I will never critique others who have higher expertise which I have tried to acquired.  It's my way of respects and showing common courtesy. Don't get me wrong. I am not qualifying myself as an expert in English, not even close. But the English I have acquired is about as standard as it can get. By the way, I said "car boot" sounded awkward and it didn't mean anything negative. Car boot - is just not heard off by most American ears. Goodman Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005 Senior Member 3,816 The name says it all! Negatives

	nona the brit  +  353569 Sat, 21 Apr 07 12:12 AM lol, trunk makes me think of elephants, so loading things into your car trunk sounds just as funny to me. My family were loading the things into the car's boot. - not really, as 'car boot' is an accepted car part name. It sounds like saying 'steering's wheel' instead of steering wheel. Stick to 'car boot' or even just 'the boot'. After all, I'm not going to imagine you mean my boots (as in feet) any more than an American would think you were talking about their elephant if you said trunk, so you don't really need to point out the car boot. It is frequently just referred to as 'the boot'. the only context I can think of where the whole phrase 'car boot' is commonly used, is for car boot sales, but normally people just say 'boot' on its own. 'What's in the boot', 'stick it in the boot', 'it's in the boot' etc. My family were loading their belongings into the boot of the car. ok. They loaded their things into the car boot. ok. They loaded their things into the boot. ok. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Yoong Liat  +  353780 Sat, 21 Apr 07 05:25 PM Hi Goodman I was not trying to critique when I said you should have used 'boots'. The fact is that I couldn't get the joke. Excuse me for lacking sense of humour. You say 'boot' would appear strange to Americans. However, as Nona pointed out, 'trunk' will sound odd to many non-AmE users. If I told my friend in Singapore that that I'm going to load this parcel into the trunk, they would think I've gone mad to put the parcel on a tree trunk or I have an elephant at home. I hope you believe what I've said about the 'boots' part. If I've caused you to misunderstand me, I would like to apologise to you. Cheers Yoong Liat Jokes

	rishonly  +  354340 Mon, 23 Apr 07 06:02 AM  Nona The Brit wrote: lol, trunk makes me think of elephants, so loading things into your car trunk sounds just as funny to me. To add more fun, Indians call the car trunk as "dicky"--which is a bad pun here in AmE. Is it BrE? I still remember how the cab driver at SFO airport reacted six years ago when I said, "Could you please open your car dicky?". rishonly Joined on Sat, Mar 5 2005 KUMBAKONAM,INDIA Contributing Member 1,782 Regards, Krishna