# Gaol vs. Jail **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2000, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837 "2000-02-16T05:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brood\_McEto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@Brood\_McEto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brood_McEto)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837/1 "2000-02-16T05:59:00Z")
Ok, Studi first introduced me to the term gaol (jail for us illiterate Americans,) and it was the first time I’d ever come across this term. At lunch, I stop by a book store and pick up a copy of a magazine called _Bizarre_. It has pictures and stories about things that are different from what we might normally see. There is a picture of some skyscraper in Jo’berg, SA, and says something about making it into a ‘gaol.’ ## At that point I realized the mag was British (the ads in the back listed pounds for price) and also that I was very glad that Studi had enabled me to understand what this meant, rather than run around the bookstore yelling, what the hell is gaol? What the hell is it? Someone? what??? Actually, I probably would have walked over to the resource dept. But I like to think of myself running around the store yelling this as I run in a semi retarded fashion making sure that my arms flail just enough… oh, sorry… Anyways… Thanks Studi, I owe you, um, like, sheesh, a word, I guess. 😉 “Rolling with the dopes you know. Rolling with the wrong gun on you” “I dream that she aims to be the bloom upon my misery” - _I Miss The Girl_ Soul Coughing ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837/2 "2000-02-16T12:52:00Z")
I’ve always liked the British spelling “gaol”. I first came across it when I was a kid reading some short story that was written long enough ago that the spelling was used in America. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837/3 "2000-02-16T15:48:00Z")
We have a local penal establishment “Headingley Jail” located on Gaol Rd. Boy do those city planners have a sense of ha-ha or what? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837/4 "2000-02-16T16:46:00Z")
“Gaol” isn’t used much in Britain any more, or at least not in the media. I prefer to use jail, and the official title for penal institutions is **HMP** (Her Majesty’s Prison), e.g. **HMP Wandsworth** or **HMP Broadmoor**. * * * I never touched him, ref, honest! [Crusoe Takes A Trip](http://www.kilcast.freeserve.co.uk/) / [Don’t Look Down](http://oldham.cjb.net) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaol-vs-jail/13837/5 "2000-02-16T20:09:00Z")
Doing my part to combat cultural illiteracy. The poem’s a bit overwrought, but it’s got at least one “famous quote” in it. [http://sailor.gutenberg.org/etext95/rgaol10.txt](http://sailor.gutenberg.org/etext95/rgaol10.txt)