# Top Gear (BBC America) -- Americanized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855 "2013-09-03T02:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/1 "2013-09-03T02:39:38Z")
I am watching episodes of _Top Gear_ (the one starring Jeremy Clarkson) on BBC America, some of them going back as early as 2004. One thing struck me as odd. Although most of the car terminology is undeniably British – the hood is the “bonnet”, the trunk is the “boot”, gasoline is “petrol”, and prices are in pounds – they nevertheless, consistently, describe speeds in _miles_ per hour. Is that the way it’s actually broadcast in Britain? Or are there two cuts of each episode – one with speeds in MPH for the American market, and one with speeds in km/hr for the British market? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/2 "2013-09-03T02:52:30Z")
It’s broadcast in Australia as MPH, although UK is KPH they will often refer to MPH in day to day conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/3 "2013-09-03T03:00:17Z")
MPH is the way that speeds are measured in the UK, and the way that speed limits are displayed. There’s no need for an alternative cut, that’s exactly what UK audiences are familiar with. **sisu** that’s not correct I’m afraid, unless your UK in your statement slipped in by mistake? ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/4 "2013-09-03T03:01:49Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > they nevertheless, consistently, describe speeds in _miles_ per hour. > > Is that the way it’s actually broadcast in Britain? Yes it is. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/5 "2013-09-03T03:02:19Z")
Highway signage in the UK was still in MPH and miles as late as 2008 (last time I was there and went outside of London) Anyway, for all the talk about metrification, you still drive miles and go miles per hour and you still get beer by the pint. I don’t recall what else was not metric, but there were a couple of other things that stood out when I was there in 2003 for my study-abroad in grad school. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/6 "2013-09-03T03:03:09Z")
Bear in mind that Clarkson, at least, is very much the old man on his porch yelling at the kids to stay off his lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/7 "2013-09-03T03:03:10Z")
Yep, still is and there’s no likelihood of, or will to, change. Ha - that was to **bump** , although it also fits beautifully as an answer to **galen ubal**. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/8 "2013-09-03T06:04:30Z")
Odd … not only do they refer to speeds in miles per hour, but on the episode where they had to drive some 700-800 miles on a single tank of fuel, they referred to their fuel efficiency in “miles per gallon.” I thought everyone, and I mean _everyone_, over there on the east side of the pond rated fuel economy in liters per 100 kilometers. (Which is the inverse of how we Americans do it, so that a higher number means _worse_ fuel economy.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/9 "2013-09-03T06:12:58Z")
One thing that is slightly metricifiedicated is that when they quote “zero to sixty in 5.7 seconds” what they are actually talking about is “0 to 100kph” because that’s what the statistics from European car companies are listed as. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/10 "2013-09-03T06:15:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > One thing that is slightly metricifiedicated is that when they quote “zero to sixty in 5.7 seconds” what they are actually talking about is “0 to 100kph” because that’s what the statistics from European car companies are listed as. Pish-tosh! They don’t say “zero to sixty”, they say “ **NOUGHT** to sixty!” That being said: So what you’re saying is, when they say “0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds”, they really mean “0 to 62.1371 in 5.7 seconds.” Let’s just hope they’re using the same kinds of seconds over there too… ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/11 "2013-09-03T06:49:49Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Odd … not only do they refer to speeds in miles per hour, but on the episode where they had to drive some 700-800 miles on a single tank of fuel, they referred to their fuel efficiency in “miles per gallon.” Those are r_eal_ gallons, not U.S. pretend gallons. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > One thing that is slightly metricifiedicated is that when they quote “zero to sixty in 5.7 seconds” what they are actually talking about is “0 to 100kph” because that’s what the statistics from European car companies are listed as. As mentioned, [**it’s still mph**](http://www.trafficsignsandmeanings.co.uk/speed-limit-signs.html) there, so they wouldn’t tell their testers to punch the stop watch (or whatever) at 62.13711111111111 mph, then say it was 60. [quote] [ul] [li] **20mph:** A circular sign with a red circle, normally found in urban areas – in Scotland this will also have a text box below and it will say “Twenty’s Plenty.”[/li][li] **30mph:** A circular sign with a red circle found in urban areas.[/li][li] **40mph:** A circular sign with a red circle found in less built up areas. . . .[/li][/quote] [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/12 "2013-09-03T07:50:00Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Odd … not only do they refer to speeds in miles per hour, but on the episode where they had to drive some 700-800 miles on a single tank of fuel, they referred to their fuel efficiency in “miles per gallon.” > > I thought everyone, and I mean _everyone_, over there on the east side of the pond rated fuel economy in liters per 100 kilometers. (Which is the inverse of how we Americans do it, so that a higher number means _worse_ fuel economy.) All of this is a hangover from our long, slow road to metrication, which has been going on at least as long as I’ve been alive (43 years, if you’re asking). So while many things are now fully metric - we measure short things in mm, cm and metres, for example - some things have clung on stubbornly to imperial measures. Measuring distances, and fuel consumption, are just two such examples. Even though we buy our fuel in litres. It’s complicated. We also still drink pints of beer (this measure is protected under EU law, as a local tradition) and buy pints of milk (labelled 568 ml to comply with the standard EU law on weights and measures). There is nothing americanised about Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson would have a fit if it was. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/13 "2013-09-03T07:53:00Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > It’s broadcast in Australia as MPH, although UK is KPH they will often refer to MPH in day to day conversations. Not so, we are still MPH. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/14 "2013-09-03T07:59:14Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Those are r_eal_ gallons, not U.S. pretend gallons. So when an American car maker says thus-and-such model gets 32 miles per gallon on the highway, he means miles per U.S. liquid gallon – but when Jeremy Clarkson says thus-and-such car gets 48 miles per gallon, he means miles per **Imperial** gallon? But … but, I thought British gas pumps – excuse me, petrol pumps – were all required by law to measure fuel in **liters**! (Or is it “litres”?) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/15 "2013-09-03T08:01:53Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Pish-tosh! They don’t say “zero to sixty”, they say “ **NOUGHT** to sixty!” D’oh! You’re right. > [@tracer](#): > > So what you’re saying is, when they say “0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds”, they really mean “0 to 62.1371 in 5.7 seconds.” I can’t remember where I heard this fact, now, so I hope I wasn’t misled. They round down. Or up. Or whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/16 "2013-09-03T08:08:17Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > So when an American car maker says thus-and-such model gets 32 miles per gallon on the highway, he means miles per U.S. liquid gallon – but when Jeremy Clarkson says thus-and-such car gets 48 miles per gallon, he means miles per **Imperial** gallon? > > But … but, I thought British gas pumps – excuse me, petrol pumps – were all required by law to measure fuel in **liters**! (Or is it “litres”?) They do (lit_res_). Doesn’t stop us talking about the price of a gallon though. You can’t control our minds, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/17 "2013-09-03T09:58:28Z")
Jezza is not completely stupid or a stickler for any particular rules - that I think is clear. Sure, EU car manufacturers label performance as 0-100 kph and fuel economy in k/litre. I’m sure JC or one of the production staff do a quick back-of-an-envelope calculation to change those figures to imperial and 0-60 mph, it wouldn’t be hard to guesstimate the answers. They’re only presenting a tv show, not flying to Mars, so who cares if the numbers are very, very, very slightly out? All the above is totally speculation. But yeah, in the UK speed is mph, drinks in ml except pints of beer/cider, food in grams (although a quarter pounder is still called a quarter pounder, probably with the weight in grams written in small print), definitely no gallons of ice cream, the necks of shirts are measured in inches and centimeters, some clothes only centimeters, some only small, medium, large etc, shoes are some archaic system that has no logic. The variation in sizes I think means the high street will not run out of clothes retailers anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/18 "2013-09-03T10:35:23Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > shoes are some archaic system that has no logic. How dare you insult our [barleycorns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barleycorn_%28unit%29)! ::shakes fist:: Seriously, does any country have logical shoe sizes? ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/19 "2013-09-03T10:53:30Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > How dare you insult our [barleycorns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barleycorn_%28unit%29)! ::shakes fist:: > > Seriously, does any country have logical shoe sizes? In Korea they measure the length of the shoe (or your foot, IDK) in mm. I think I’m about a size 290 over there, but could hardly ever find shoes that large :mad: in regular shops. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855/20 "2013-09-03T11:00:27Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > I think I’m about a size 290 over there So your foot is a foot? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-bbc-america-americanized/667855.md?page=2)