"Oven dish" vs "roaster" - am I missing something?!

[jerometheturnipking]

Exciting thread title, I know.

I'm looking at getting some new kitchen bits, and I'm slightly baffled as to what the difference between a rectangular, deep sided, oven dish and a roasting tray is. I know I wouldn't be able to fit e.g. a whole turkey in a 32cm oven dish, but surely I'd be able to roast a beef joint or a wee chicken, or veggies in one without ringing in the apocalypse?

A roaster has a slightly curved base so the meat fat runs off?

Interesting, that would make sense. Some of them did have completely flat bottoms though. It's bizarre!

I would say an oven dish is ceramic and a roasting tin is metal.