Does anyone know which of the 2 terms mentioned above is for British English and which for American English? Thanks for your help!
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Does anyone know which of the 2 terms mentioned above is for British English and which for American English? Thanks for your help!
"Aisle" is definitely a word that Americans use while "gangway" is just a weird word that Americans laugh at.
Hi Sabrina and ScottJ,
I think "gangway" is still used for the board or the set of stairs leading on to a ship.
There is also the exclamation "gangway!" meaning "out of the way!"
Well, maybe not in America, I'm not sure about that.
Hi Sabrina! Both words are used in US English but have different contexts. For me gangway is more related to navigation and aisle is much more general. I am not sure what the UK usage would be. Hope it helps!
In England they use gangway for any space designated for walking such as in a theatre or a supermarket. In America we use aisle.
The phrase Gang way! (sometimes spelled as one word) means get out of the way and is very common in my part of the United States.
Joel
In BrE 'gangway' would be used to refer to the passageway from shore to ship but also to the walkways on scaffolding on any sort of building work. It would also be used for the walkways on the scaffolding used on theatre or film sets for the lighting or scene changes. These could also be called 'gantries( gantry)' as would the walkways on the exterior rooves of large buildings such as churches and also walkways in warships or the large engine-rooms of cruise-liners.
In supermarkets, churches, cinemas, theatres, fashion shows, the walkways are always referred to as 'aisles', similar to AmE. :)