# Hi I want to confirm if young British people still say or write "aeroplane". **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470 "2013-07-25T11:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/21 "2013-07-25T16:13:10Z")
We still have at least one [aerodrome](http://www.oldrhinebeck.org/) here in the US. Cool place to visit when they do the airshows. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/22 "2013-07-25T16:24:33Z")
I first encountered “aeroplane” as a young child in an older book for children, and ever since then I haven’t been able to shake the notion that it’s a cutesified, old-fashioned, kiddie version of “plane” or “airplane,” much as “kittycat” and “puppydog” are baby talk for “cat” and “dog.” ---
**Author:** ![Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gullible_s_Travels)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/23 "2013-07-25T16:34:28Z")
I know you asked about young British people but I’m in Australia and I don’t know anyone, young or old, who says airplane. Even typing the word feels really wrong. My Kindle has ‘aeroplane mode’ and my old Galaxy had ‘flight mode’, which is what the flight attendants call it when they make their announcements. My iPhone has ‘airplane mode’ and I find it quite jarring to see that on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/24 "2013-07-25T16:52:18Z")
30 here, (still young, honest!), aeroplane, definitely, and any young rapscallions that dare say otherwise in my hearing will get a clip round the lughole. Or I’ll just be sarcastic at them. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/25 "2013-07-25T17:04:41Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Oh, “an aeroplane.” Oh, I say, we are grand, aren’t we? “Oh, oh, no more buttered scones for me, mater. I’m off to play the grand piano. Pardon me while I fly my ‘aeroplane.’” “Aeroplane”? What luxury. We were lucky to get a catapult ride. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/26 "2013-07-25T18:12:54Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I have a feeling **aerodrome** may have largely died out, though. Quite. The only possible known reference would be **[Rex Warner’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Warner)** anti-fascist [_The Aerodrome_](http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/aerodrome.html) which I have never read. May be very good, but I lost any taste for 1920s-60s fiction before I could get around to it. As for the question it seems so trivial a distinction I might use either at will. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/27 "2013-07-26T00:53:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I first encountered “aeroplane” as a young child in an older book for children, and ever since then I haven’t been able to shake the notion that it’s a cutesified, old-fashioned, kiddie version of “plane” or “airplane,” much as “kittycat” and “puppydog” are baby talk for “cat” and “dog.” Much as my daughter used to say “'spic’le Me” (for “Despicable Me”) and “Rouwn-Bout” for “Roundabout”, to me “air’plane” sounds like a small child trying to say “aeroplane”. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/28 "2013-07-26T02:48:30Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Quite. The only possible known reference would be **[Rex Warner’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Warner)** anti-fascist [_The Aerodrome_](http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/aerodrome.html) which I have never read. May be very good, but I lost any taste for 1920s-60s fiction before I could get around to it. :dubious: Aerodrome was certainly in common use in Britain much more recently than 1941 (when that was published), like when I was a kid in the 1950s and '60s. However, as I said, I think it has pretty much died out now. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/29 "2013-07-26T04:10:09Z")
So, what do you call someone who fabricates aeroplanes - an aerosmith? d&r ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/30 "2013-07-26T04:24:12Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Well, I guess that shows the “emoji” symbols on iOS aren’t equivalent to Unicode, then. The plane one maps to a Unicode plane, but my Union flag didn’t show up at all, and **friedo** ’s Walnut Whip just shows as a square. ☹ > > Oh well, have a tight trifoliate snowflake: ❅ Heh. Google dosn’t do anything with those, but try typing them into the search box on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/31 "2013-07-26T04:56:55Z")
do most Americans even say airplane? because in the movies they simply use ‘planes’, i don’t think i recall otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/32 "2013-07-26T11:12:08Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > do most Americans even say airplane? because in the movies they simply use ‘planes’, i don’t think i recall otherwise. More often than we say automobile, but yes, plane is more common. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/33 "2013-07-26T12:32:26Z")
I didn’t know airplane was a real word until this thread. Other than _Jefferson Airplane_ of course but I took it to be like _Beatles_, a made up word used as a rock band name. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/34 "2013-07-26T12:47:34Z")
What intrigues me is that while there is this evidently very much alive British/American English divide on “aeroplane” vs. “airplane”, the pronunciation of “aeroplane” by Brits and Americans vary. Probably because we Americans are “forcing it” when we do 🙂 In the intro to their song “[Goodbye, Blue Sky](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkrhsw_the-wall-pink-floyd-goodbye-blue-sky_music)” (sorry, the link I found has a 15 second commercial before starting…), recorded in 1978-79 by the British band Pink Floyd, a child says “Look Mummy, there’s a aeroplane up in the sky.” But to my (American) ear, it sounds just like “airplane”, albeit with an obviously British accent; the “o” in “aeroplane” is so light as to be imperceptible to me. And since the lyrics on the album sleeves (or CD inserts) don’t include this audio _mise-en-scene_ intro, I have (until now) thought of this as an example of “airplane” bleeding over into British use. On the other hand, The Red Hot Chili Peppers (an American band) have a 1995 song “[Aeroplane](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD77IJXUPUE)”, where I assume they used the word “aeroplane” to fit the meter of the lyrics and possibly to evoke some kind of WWI Sopwith Camel propeller type plane. They clearly stress the “o” so that even without having seen the song lyrics or title, I knew they were using the term “aeroplane” not “airplane”, and from the first time I heard it on the radio I considered it an affectation for artistic purposes. Yet more than one ex-pat Brit in the US has already chimed in to say “airplane” still sounds odd to them. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/35 "2013-07-26T12:48:48Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I didn’t know airplane was a real word until this thread. Other than _Jefferson Airplane_ of course but I took it to be like _Beatles_, a made up word used as a rock band name. Did they change the title of the classic comedy movie with Leslie Nielsen to _Aeroplane!_ for Britspeak audiences? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/36 "2013-07-26T12:57:29Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Did they change the title of the classic comedy movie with Leslie Nielsen to _Aeroplane!_ for Britspeak audiences? 🙂 It’s called \* Flying High \* in Australia, but I believe it was released under its original name in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/37 "2013-07-26T13:43:08Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > On the other hand, The Red Hot Chili Peppers (an American band) have a 1995 song “[Aeroplane](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD77IJXUPUE)”, where I assume they used the word “aeroplane” to fit the meter of the lyrics and possibly to evoke some kind of WWI Sopwith Camel propeller type plane. Similarly, the American group the Box Tops in 1967 asked for a ticket on an aeroplane, because they didn’t have time to take a fast train. British pronunciations are wonderful when the American pronunciation doesn’t scan. Not sure whether Brit songwriters ever do it in reverse. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/38 "2013-07-26T13:46:27Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > It’s called \* Flying High \* in Australia, but I believe it was released under its original name in the UK. [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ql_9) doesn’t list a UK alternate title, though it was apparently _O Aeroplano_ in Portugal. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/39 "2013-07-26T14:05:20Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Similarly, the American group the Box Tops in 1967 asked for a ticket on an aeroplane, because they didn’t have time to take a fast train. And in Steve Allen’s “This Could Be the Start of Something,” you’re up in an aeroplane, or dining at Sardi’s. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470/40 "2013-07-26T15:08:41Z")
> [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](#): > > I know you asked about young British people but I’m in Australia and I don’t know anyone, young or old, who says airplane. Even typing the word feels really wrong. It’s all in the [early childhood exposure](http://www.aeroplanejelly.com.au) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-i-want-to-confirm-if-young-british-people-still-say-or-write-aeroplane/664470.md?page=3)