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What do you call them, and where are you from?
I'm from Shropshire and I call them Islands, as do my parents and other family. Pretty much everywhere else I've been, people say 'roundabout' (as does MrsDoris who seems to think it makes me some kind of straw-chewing yokel) - but I've seen a couple of people on here say island too.
So it piqued my curiosity. Is it a regional thing?
Probably, personally I have lived in various parts of Scotland and have always heard them referred to as roundabouts.
Born and brought up in Hampshire, always used roundabout in our family- parents brought up on West Sussex/Surrey border
Wikipedia says : In certain areas of the United Kingdom, particularly in The Midlands, the term island is often used as a synonym for roundabout.
Probably, personally I have lived in various parts of Scotland and have always heard them referred to as roundabouts.
It's pronounced "Roondaboot"
example: "aye, take the 3rd turning aff the roondaboot.....naw, ya missed it ya fanny"
In Ireland is there an island with a roundabout on it?
Coming from the Midlands I tend to call big ones islands and smaller ones roundabouts.
IT'S A ROUNDABOUT!!!! I do think it's a regional thing, in the West Midlands area they call them islands and my fella who has now moved with me to Cumbria says islands, I've tried to explain to him that if he wants to be a 'local' he must change to calling them roundabouts. Check the highway code, it's called a roundabout! Yes an island is a component of the roundabout but we have islands all over the place on the roads, centrally placed traffic lights often sit on very small islands for example. We've had this debate many times, can you tell!?
Coming from the Midlands I tend to call big ones islands and smaller ones roundabouts.
This. Noticed it when we moved here, road reports refer to "Priory island"
South of London and we have both Roundabouts and Islands. Roundabouts are the round things you drive clockwise round. Islands are the pedestrian crossings that alow people to cross halfway while waiting for traffic.
Roundabout, from West Yorkshire and now live in Cheshire. Same name in both places. Never actually heard them described as Islands before.
Blimey Golfchick, sounds like it gets pretty heated round your way!! 😀
Roundabout, from West Yorkshire and now live in Cheshire. Same name in both places.
+1 on all counts, almost - S Yorks not W Yorks, though historically West Riding.
They’re referred to as islands here in South Staffordshire.
In Dundee they're called circles.
Roundabouts.
Big and wee.
A traffic island is an object in a road that channels traffic (those things that sit as the lane filters onto a big roundabout, or at a crossing point).
Magic roundabout
In Dundee they’re called circles
That is brilliantly literal!
Reminds me of the time I heard a Dublin local refer to The Dublin Spire as "the big lamppost"...
mjsmke
Roundabouts are the round things you drive clockwise round. Islands are the pedestrian crossings that alow people to cross halfway while waiting for traffic.
Sums it up beautifully 👍😃
It’s pronounced “Roondaboot”
example: “aye, take the 3rd turning aff the roondaboot…..naw, ya missed it ya fanny”
I presume the D is silent? 🙄
"clockwise" ?
Arc de Triomphe roundabout?
W. Midlander... islands/roundabouts, interchangeable to me, why get so worked up?
Now Dinner vs tea.. ffs tea time at 11am, dinner at dinner time! (which is 6pm-ish)
Now Dinner vs tea.. ffs tea time at 11am, dinner at dinner time! (which is 6pm-ish)
11am is brunch, you savage!
roon the roonaboot.
In Stafford there's a roundabout on Newport Road. I call it Newport Road Island but American friends think I'm talking about New England, USA.
An island is something different and raised bit inbetween 2 roads going in opposite directions. Sometimes has a pedestrian crossing of some sort, sometimes not.
darthpunk
Free Member
Probably, personally I have lived in various parts of Scotland and have always heard them referred to as roundabouts.It’s pronounced “Roondaboot”
example: “aye, take the 3rd turning aff the roondaboot…..naw, ya missed it ya fanny”
Prounoucin the D, posh guy, eh? 😆
Roundabouts are the round things you drive clockwise round. Islands are the pedestrian crossings that alow people to cross halfway while waiting for traffic.
That's how I refer to them too.
I don't think I've ever heard roundabouts called islands before.
Grew up in London and Sussex, always called them roundabouts. Moved to Warwickshire and found everyone called them islands - and all directions were given relative to 'The Stonebridge Island'. Brummie or Black Country is 'oiland', obvs.
Circles Roundabouts
Islands
YamYam here, they're interchangeable but usually islands is my go-to.
Exeter, but from the Black Country and they're islands. Nobody in Devon calls them islands.
It’s roundabout.
Or, circle, if you’re from dundee, as noted above.
I think in german it literally translates as ‘circle junction’
This is according to some german students i met recently. They mentioned it when i told them about ’circle’, as they were travelling to dundee.
A traffic island is quite different.
I'm a Brummie and call them islands, now live in Scotland where they're called roundabouts 🤷♂️
A lot of traffic 'roundabouts' were pretty big around where I grew up in Brum with a fair bit of foliage on them, making them look like 'islands'
Makes you think 🤔
Donut in Chezvegas… Ooh you have to be careful round there of an evening..
As far as I’m concerned, a roundabout is something you negotiate when going from one road to another at a junction where two or more roads join. An island is a place in the centre of a wide urban road or trunk route which enables pedestrians to cross safely when traffic is busy, a safe refuge in the centre of the road, usually marked with bollards.
The two are completely different and have different functions. Some larger roundabouts do have bushes and trees on them, but that’s not to provide some muppet with somewhere to pause while trying to walk across a roundabout, ‘cos that would be bloody stupid!
As elegantly depicted by fasthaggis above. Despite what some might think, they’re not interchangeable.
I think in german it literally translates as ‘circle junction’
The German word is Kreisverkehr which translates more to the American word traffic circle.
I’m also originally from Shropshire and they’ve always been roundabouts for me.
Was about to say that my wife's sat nav refers to them as 'traffic circles', but the correct answer is roundabout
Dragged up N Brum/S Staffs and yes always Islands. Traffic islands. Roundabouts are at the playground;->
YamYam here, they’re interchangeable but usually islands is my go-to.
So how do you refer to what the rest of he country calls (traffic) islands as above?
So how do you refer to what the rest of he country calls (traffic) islands as above?
Not sure! Probably just 'the crossing'. My driving instructor called them 'pedestrian havens' which makes sense but sounds a bit formal.
Roundabout. Anything else is wrong.
Few years back an Eastern European driver was trying to find an address I waas at to drop off kit.
He was calling the roon-a-boots in Renfrew ringabouts!
roundabout, but i reckon the size may have an influence.
Big ones, definately roundabouts
Small painted ones, or ones barely large enough to hold a sign, could be islands, i spose.
Highway code says roundabouts
Some larger roundabouts do have bushes and trees on them, but that’s not to provide some muppet with somewhere to pause while trying to walk across a roundabout, ‘cos that would be bloody stupid!
Although I have seen some big ones where backpackers/hitchhikers had pitched small tents. 🙂 🙂
big roundish thing or medium roundish thing with vehicle exits- roundabout
flat white painted bump with vehicle exits - mini roundabout
thing in middle of road for folk to stand in - traffic island
So how do you refer to what the rest of he country calls (traffic) islands as above?
Not sure! Probably just ‘the crossing’. My driving instructor called them ‘pedestrian havens’ which makes sense but sounds a bit formal.
Same here, crossings or safe havens as my instructor also told me 30 years ago
I've spoken with the girlfriend and she reckons my crossing point is called a refuge. She is posher than me though, as she is a Brummie. You lot will be telling me you don't know what a gambol is next.
I'm from Shropshire and they're Islands in my vocabulary too.
Never heard a roundabout called an island.
Clearly roundabout.
I did have a strange experience in rural New South Wales where I was getting some route clarification in a pub. We couldn't work out if a track marked on one map but not another still existed so we asked a local. He told us to go down the road, past all the houses until we got to the thingy, the whatdyacallit, the "roundabout" he said. Roundabout? In the middle of nowhere? OK.
We got to the end of the tarmac and there was a cul de sac turning circle (!) and a gap in the undergrowth just about wide enough to get through, followed by an awesome track littered with abandoned 4x4s.
Now Dinner vs tea.. ffs tea time at 11am, dinner at dinner time! (which is 6pm-ish)
Simpler in Australia - where i've never heard anyone refer to dinner as tea or supper.
Breakfast
Morning Tea (or Smoke-o for tradies)
Lunch
Afternoon Tea
Dinner
Just listen to the way brummies say it - something like oyyylend. That should be enough reason not to call them islands.
I've heard Americans call them road circles. That's when they can bring themselves to talk about them as they're usually terrified by the experience of driving around one.
Yes, traffic circles in California and approached with extreme caution. You'll often get five-minute stand-offs.
Inveralmond roundabout
Broxden roundabout
Swallow circle
Shepherd and Flock Roundabout, Farnham, Surrey.
If ever a roundabout deserved to be called an "island", it would be one with a pub and a village green on it. But no. Roundabout it is.
Islands are things you go to to from. Like the ones in the middle of pedestrian crossings.
Roundabouts are things you go round about - like roundabouts - as opposed to to, or from, or over.
The only island you go round about is GB after Brexit. Little international trade joke for the Irish there 😜.
Roundabout or island? Nah, ramp:
nedrapier
Shepherd and Flock Roundabout, Farnham, Surrey.
thats no island... sorry roundabout, that's a ring road!