el gas

Question

How common is this context of el gas for la gasolina?

gas RAE dictionary

gas SpanishDict dictionary

I see the context of gas for a car in both the gaseous mixture of air and gasoline in a carburetor and for gas LP, but I don't see it substituted for gasoline. dar el gas (accelerate) is close, but that, again, could be the gas/air mixture being referred to

The only reason that I am asking is I found it curious that la fotografía=la foto and la televisión=la tele, but la gasolina=el gas.

Answer 1

I Argentina, "gas" is used for natural gas (methane). We use "gas licuado" for propane, and gasoline is called "nafta".

Answer 2

el gas

Answer 3

I think the problem with the picture I used for "el gas" is that it is pretty impossible to find a picture of "gas." There are oil drums, gas pumps, gas tanks, etc, but no gas. So I had to go with the picture that could be the easiest to connect to the meaning. Any suggestions for other pictures, and I will change it. I just couldn't spend an hour looking for one picture.

How's this?

Answer 4

En México podemos decir "échale gas al carro" significando gasolina, es sólo que gas sería una forma corta e informal de llamar a la gasolina. También le decimos gasofia.

Answer 5

I think the problem with the picture I used for "el gas" is that it is pretty impossible to find a picture of "gas." There are oil drums, gas pumps, gas tanks, etc, but no gas. So I had to go with the picture that could be the easiest to connect to the meaning. Any suggestions for other pictures, and I will change it. I just couldn't spend an hour looking for one picture.

Answer 6

Clearly these are Americanisms. In the UK we say "petrol" for "gasoline (or the shortened form) gas". The gaseous fuel, we call LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). The meaning is clear, largely due the vast volume of American TV material we have on our TV channels. If only they'd put Spanish shows on the old box. It is interesting that the site is not surprisingly biased towards American English and Latin American Spanish. For me some more information on Peninsular Spanish pronunciation would be helpful.

Answer 7

Hola Quentin: No en España desde luego. GAs es una cosa, gasolina es otra. La foto en la ficha no se entiende en España.

En España de hecho tenemos aún gas para los calentadores o fuegos de cocina. Se llama gas butano.

La expresión es: dale gas, acelera.

Estas dos son comunes en España:

a todo ~.

1. loc. adv. A toda velocidad.

dar ~.

1. loc. verb. Actuar sobre el acelerador de un vehículo automóvil para aumentar la velocidad de su motor.

O sea, no es dar [del]el[/del] gas.