Here in HK, where we get torrential rain, the bus shelters, which are made of stainless stell rafters supporting a transparent roof made of light green polycarbonate, have a kind of ridge (about 4-5 inches high) on the circumference/periphery of the roof, to stop water sheeting off on poor unsuspecting passengers.
What is such a feature typically called? A ridge doesn’t sound quite right.
a gutter? That’s what we call them over here in the US (attached ridges that divert the flow from a sloped or flat roof to downspouts to suitable waterways)
My HOUSE has a kind of ridge (about 4-5 inches high) on the circumference/periphery of the roof (the eaves), to stop water sheeting off on poor unsuspecting passers-by, and the driveway, and the yard. Those are my gutters.
The eave is the roof edge overhang. The gutter is the ridge (trough) that keeps the water from spilling straight OFF the eave onto the people below. Call it what you want. It’s a gutter.
I think it’s as much a matter of schema (the way the brain organises things) and concept as anything else. You yourself write of a ‘gutter’ as being a ‘ridge’ or ‘trough’, which I think point to the problem. A ridge is prototypically understood as sticking up, while a trough is prototypically seen as extending down. Well, by me, of course. My idea of a gutter is the thing that Ben Stiller lit the leaves in with his lit cigarette in Meet the Parents, something that is perceived to, even if it doesn’t actually, sit flush with the bottom roof tile. (Come to think of it, it could hardly be above it, as it wouldn’t function very well to collect the water in that case.)
However, since ‘eaves’ are typically understood as the *lower * edges of the roof, I’m stuck with ‘ridge’ for the time being - unless I use a phrase.