[Vocabulary] Correct use of words

[Vishal Uttekar]

Hello Friends,
Myself Vishal and working as an engineer. In India, there are two commenly used terms

viz. "Average" & "Mileage" to express the "Distance the vehicle can travel per liter fuel consumption."

My question is as far as the terminology is concern in strict sense which is the correct term- Average or
Mileage. In India the word Average is quite commonplace compared to mileage. However according to my

perspective the word "Average" is quite wrong.
Will anybody elaborate?

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello Friends,
Myself Vishal and working as an engineer. In India, there are two commenly used terms

viz. "Average" & "Mileage" to express the "Distance the vehicle can travel per liter fuel consumption."

My question is as far as the terminology is concern in strict sense which is the correct term- Average or
Mileage. In India the word Average is quite commonplace compared to mileage. However according to my

perspective the word "Average" is quite wrong.
Will anybody elaborate?

In countries that measure distance in kilometres, "kilometres per litre" is used to express the average distance that a vehicle will travel on one litre of fuel. In countries that use miles for distance measurement and gallons for volume, "miles per gallon" is used. I know that in India a mixture of both systems is used. Most of my Indian friends would typically ask "What is your car's average?" meaning the average distance that the vehicle will travel on one litre of fuel.

 

[Route21]

As an NES but not a teacher, "mileage" in BrE tends to mean the "mileage between A and B".

That having been said, in your case, you could say something like "What's the [average/] mileage that you would get from your xyz car?" where, if omitted, the word "average" would be presumed.

Regards
R21

 

[5jj]

IIn countries that measure distance in kilometres, "kilometres per litre" is used to express the average distance that a vehicle will travel on one litre of fuel.

In those continental countries in which I have worked, it's litres per 100 kilometers. For people who use this system, the lower the figure the better. For people who use the mpg system, the higher the figure the better.

 

[Barb_D]

I confess if someone said "What's your car's average?" I would not know what that meant.

 

[emsr2d2]

I confess if someone said "What's your car's average?" I would not know what that meant.

Nor would I. I would expect to be asked "What's the fuel consumption like on your car?", to which I would reply "Terrible! I get about 20 miles to the gallon". If someone asked me about my mileage I would think they meant either how many miles my car had done or how many miles I drive in a month/year.

 

[Route21]

In Thailand, although most people drive on the same side of the road as the UK, we work in kms and litres
My pickup's dashboard display reads 11.5 kms/litre (32.5 mpg) average over the whole time we've had it.
R21
PS: Here "in the sticks" people regularly drive in the wrong direction on the hard shoulder/motorbike lane - even at night!