Commentary, England

Cable cars across the ocean

I’m going on vacation to England soon, so I was intrigued to hear that Mayor Johnson had inaugurated a cable car across the Thames. “Funny,” I thought, “It’s not that hilly there.” Then I realized that “cable car” meant an aerial car, like what we call a tram.

CABLE CAR CABLE CAR

So I decided to put together this little guide to transatlantic transportation vocabulary differences. It was only after I was halfway done that I realized how much I had cribbed from the “Point of View” ad campaign created for the Hongkong Bank by Craig Davis of J. Walter Thompson (where my dad worked back in the “Mad Men” days). Good ads! Please click through to see the sources for the photos.

Tram:
TRAM TRAM
Trolley:
TROLLEY TROLLEY

Trucks:
TRUCKS TRUCKS

Tube:
TUBE TUBE

Subway:
SUBWAY SUBWAY