Not sure about the "absolutely confined to the UK" Jamie and "provincial
usage"!!! We like to think of ourselves as the epicentre of English..... This is
all very depressing - has the sun finally set on the BrEng empire? Or are you
just taking the mickey/livening things up? The question you originally asked was
"How often do the British use the word "mains" in the electrical sense". If the
answer is "all the time", then I think you are hard pushed to draw the
conclusion that it is "provincial English". Wikipedia warns that "mains
electricity" is not often used in the US and Canada - that's as maybe, but I am
not sure that relegates the term to "provincial usage´"! I am pretty sure that
South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, Africans of all persuasions,
Indians etc. would understand what is meant by "the mains".



----- Original Message -----
From: James Kirchner
To: Czechlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Czechlist] Re: "mains"





Apparently I'm not so amazing. Over the weekend I've asked several
people who should know, including engineers, skilled tradesmen at
factories and people who rehab houses, and they have never heard
"mains" used in compounds involving electrical wiring. At first they
think I mean "main", and when I tell them it's "mains", they are
mystified by the expressions.

I have also searched the websites of several power companies, and none
of them use the word "mains" in reference to the electrical lines, but
use it only for pipes transporting water, steam and gas.

Clearly these compounds like "mains adaptor", "mains cable", etc., are
provincial usage and suitable only for materials that will absolutely
be confined to the UK. Anything intended to be in "international
English" should use "electrical", "power" or some other less opaque
term.

Jamie

On Jul 9, 2009, at 3:01 AM, Simon Vollam wrote:

> > Despite having had to read at technical material from various
> > countries for decades, last week was the first time in my entire
> life
> > that I had ever encountered the word "mains" used that way,
>
> You amaze me.

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