# Carousel vs Merry-Go-Round **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 1999, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527 "1999-05-28T23:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 1999, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/1 "1999-05-28T23:20:00Z")
Whats the difference between the two? I know that in Britain their “roundabouts” go in the opposite direction of American merry-go-rounds but what sets a merry-go-round apart from a carousel? ducks * * * PS Have a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 1999, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/2 "1999-05-29T04:12:00Z")
I don’t think there’s a diff. My mom told me I had trouble saying carousel when I was a wee lad, so she told me to say merry-go-round. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 1999, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/3 "1999-05-29T04:27:00Z")
According to my Webster’s, “carousel” dates back to 1650, whereas “merry-go-round” only dates back to 1729. OTOH, “merry-go-round” refers almost exclusively to the amusement park ride, and “carousel” originally refered to an equestrian exhibition in which horsemen would execute a series of motions. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 1999, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/4 "1999-05-29T09:23:00Z")
People I know always refered to large permenent one’s as carousel, such as at a theme park. Merry go round was used for portable or small ones, such as the fair or in front of a department store. We used merry go round to refer to those playground rides were everone sits on long benchs in a circle, grabs the handle bar, and a kid pushes it around until kids start flinging off. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 1999, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/5 "1999-05-29T12:07:00Z")
British roundabouts are required by law to revolve in the opposite direction from American merry-go-rounds. This creates problems when an Americam merry-go-round actually _reverses_ direction and throws BAPO (British Amusement Park Operators) into yet another emergency meeting. BAPO does not have a chapter in the southern hemisphere, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/6 "1999-06-01T14:43:00Z")
According to my American Heritage Dictionary, the definition for a carousel is “a merry-go-round.” I’m guess they’re just different names for the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/7 "1999-06-01T15:31:00Z")
I was under the impression that a “roundabout” in Britain was a traffic circle. * * * All Hail Unca Cecil, or the next best thing available! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/8 "1999-06-01T18:39:00Z")
I have a friend who is a carousel/merry-go-round enthusiast and she always told me that merry-go-round is the British term and that a proper British merry-go-round goes one directions while the American carousel goes the other. But which goes clockwise and which goes counter-clockwise I don’t remember. I trust her implicitly, even if I can’t remember exactly what she said. * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carousel-vs-merry-go-round/527/9 "1999-06-01T19:01:00Z")
If memory serves, the American variety almost always goes clock-wise (if you are looking at it from above) . This would seem to negate any comparisons to roundabouts and traffic circles, since an English roundabout also goes clock-wise. An American traffic circle, of course, goes counter-clock-wise. The cosmic balance of the World will be maintained if English merry-go-rounds, indeed go counter-clock-wise. * * * Aon Dia. Aon Tir. Aon Ite.