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> Only Americans (to the extent I know) differentiate jail and gaol. Jail and prison.

You inhabit a very different reality than everybody else. Americans do not differentiate jail and gaol; Americans don't use the word "gaol" under any circumstances, ever. It is not a part of American English.



American here. Never seen the word written before.


It's a common spelling in fantasy video games and books, but it feels kind of performative.

These same games will have voice actors pronounce "ye" as it's written, unaware that the y is a typographic substitute for Þ. "ye olde" is pronounced "the old". But likewise, there's some VAs that clearly only ever read a word, like in the newer God of War games where a character mangles "prescient".


Same had to actually look it up and at least Merriam-Webster lists the word as “chiefly British spellings of JAIL, JAILER”. Which at least hints that the dictionary writers thought it is less common out side of Britain.


It's the traditional spelling. You'll see it in the British Isles, and on some old buildings here in Canada.


Though it does exist, 'gaol' very infrequently used in the UK too.


Obviously, you haven't visited any colonial American sites. It used to be the normal spelling.


I've also seen the spelling used in old westerns, which I just so happened to be reading in jail.


Non-native speaker here and I learned the word gaol from some fantasy literature only a couple years back.


American here (another) but also Irish (moved here in my 20s)…

Americans never use ‘gaol’. It’s rarely used in Ireland but definitely a term there.


I dropped out in the first semester of 9th grade and even I know the word gaol, because I read books written before last year.


I graduated from high school and even got a bachelor's degree. I've read several books written before last year, and have talked to dozens of people. I've never heard or seen the word gaol. And if I had, I'd probably assume it was "goal" misspelled. I make no assertions of being particularly smart or literate, but only typical.


Yes, but how often do you use it in your vernacular?

Since that's the topic being discussed, then first portion of your statement wasn't necessary.


It's the same word, just an alternate spelling which is now defunct.


Knowing the word exists is a different thing than using it in daily speech. I, and I'm sure most people, would be very surprised to hear there are populations of the USA where "gaol" is used regularly.


That's not true. Plenty of ill-behaved FFXI players (myself included) once served time in Mordion Gaol.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Mordion_Gaol


I apologise for mixing terms. Jail and Prison? Do you disagree this is a point of difference? Americans also don't seem to talk about being on remand. In police custody is unwieldy, I agree.


"jail" and "prison" are the American English words in question.

Although that distinction is rarely relevant in casual conversation in practice. People say "jail" and mean "prison" all the time.


As int_19h notes, there are people (in the US) who believe that there is a difference between the meaning of the word "jail" and the meaning of the word "prison". And as int_19h also notes, those people are wrong; Americans will just be confused if you try to use the words differently. It's similar to the insistence of a group with near-perfect overlap that crimes for which jail time isn't a possible punishment can't be correctly referred to as "crimes".


While they are often used interchangeably, it is not uncommon for people to make the distinction between jail and prison in the US.

It can definitely come across as a “Frankenstein’s monster” type of pedantic correction, but they truly do mean two different ideas in the US




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