Am I wrong in believing it’s called ‘gas and electricity’ and not ‘electric’?

[JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil]

There have been multiple threads discussing the cost of living crisis and every one states ‘gas and ELECTRIC’. I thought it would be ‘gas and ELECTRICITY’?

I genuinely am not being a grammar dick but I’m becoming confused as to whether I’ve been saying it incorrectly? Or is it one of those words where you can use either/or.

Light and heat

It’s the electricity bill. People shorten it wrongly but it doesn’t really matter. It’s not as bad as misusing ‘of’ when they mean ‘have’, my own bugbear. .

@Flavabobble

It's nothing like pram, telly etc. They are all abbreviations. Electric instead of electricity is, as I said, just ignorance. Along with "invite" for "invitation".

You don't think it's used as an abbreviation, when it literally IS an abbreviation? Really? 😆

"Leccy" is a regional abbreviation.

"Electric" is an adjective.

"Electricity" is the noun.

An "electric bill" would be a bill "transmitted by electricity" (or some such). As such, it is not an abbreviation, but complete nonsense.

It's 'electrickety' in this household, even though we haven't watched Peppa Pig for years.

I've always called it the secondary energy source obtained from primary energy sources that provides a flow of power to enable the usage of appliances in my home.
Can't bare these lazy abbreviations.

@5128gap

I've always called it the secondary energy source obtained from primary energy sources that provides a flow of power to enable the usage of appliances in my home. Can't bare these lazy abbreviations.

No need to take your clothes off!

Expensive whatever you want to call it. Not something I would get my knickers in a twist about 😂

It is using an adjective as a noun, which is ungrammatical and makes people sound uneducated.

I know many people think it doesn't matter, but it matters to me.

I see your invite-invitation and raise you quote-quotation.

@Giggorata

It is using an adjective as a noun, which is ungrammatical and makes people sound uneducated.

I know many people think it doesn't matter, but it matters to me.

I see your invite-invitation and raise you quote-quotation.

Why? Not being well educated, or more specifically, not retaining every aspect of one's education in one subject area, is not a character flaw.

You're not wrong, but it's very common colloquial usage.

Hi @5128gap

I'm with @Giggorata on this, and trying to work out the answer to your question. Obviously the electric/electricity thing is trivial and totally unimportant in itself. And as you rightly say not being well-educated is not a character flaw or some sort of moral failing. But honestly I do
just find well-educated, knowledgeable people more interesting.

@AuntyPonsonby

Hi *@5128gap*

I'm with @Giggorata on this, and trying to work out the answer to your question. Obviously the electric/electricity thing is trivial and totally unimportant in itself. And as you rightly say not being well-educated is not a character flaw or some sort of moral failing. But honestly I do
just find well-educated, knowledgeable people more interesting.

Which is fine, but I think its a bit of a leap to extrapolate from someone's SPAG how interesting they are likely to be. As I said, even if educational status is important to you, which I think is a bit limiting, given its not the same thing as the intelligence, creativity, originality of thought that make a person interesting, but often just a result of being in decent schooling for a long time and/or coming from a certain background where 'correct' expression is reinforced; SPAG is a small part of one's education, and holds little interest for some. Just because this can lead to them expressing themselves outside of a set of arbitrary rules, it doesn't mean that the content if what they have to say is of less value.

Oh yes, eeelec trickery, as in Catweazle. For all you older readers ☺️

In the olden days, our local provider was called Northern Electric.

@PickAChew

In the olden days, our local provider was called Northern Electric.

Same! They used to have a big shop in Hartlepool too iirc!

@KeyErro

It's 'Electric' in company names (like Southern Electric or the Ireland example above). And on the square on the Monopoly Board

Southern Electric used to be called, correctly, Southern Electricity. They changed it for no reason I can understand: like Waterstone’s dropping the apostrophe. Doesn’t make electric correct; companies get stuff wrong all the time.

Quite simply, electric is an adjective. It can't stand on its own, it has to be followed by a noun that it describes.
Electric cooker is correct because the cooker is electrical.
Electric bill is wrong because the bill is not electrical, it's financial.

Gas and leccy.

Who are these posh cunts who say "gas and electric/electricity"? Do yous stick your pinkies in the air when you drink tea as well?

It's 'Electric' in company names (like Southern Electric or the Ireland example above). And on the square on the Monopoly Board.

That's presumably because 'electric' is an adjective and here it's being used to describe the noun 'company'. What kind of company? An electric company. Although I guess it's a bit of an unusual usage, in the sense that 'electric' as an adjective usually refers to something (e.g. a device) that runs on electricity. Also, gas doesn't really have an equivalent adjective which would work in that context - gaseous company would sound a bit odd .

@Knockoneofftheshelftowin

Thought it was lekky ?!

It is where I live!

@BeforeGodAndAllTheFish

It's American. They say electric bill.

That's what they say on movies and tv shows so or course, that's what people in the UK start saying too.

My grandparents and mother all said electric. Definitely not an American influence there.

@Butchyrestingface

Gas and leccy.

Who are these posh cunts who say "gas and electric/electricity"? Do yous stick your pinkies in the air when you drink tea as well?

We don't drink anything so vulgar.

Sticking your little finger in the air when drinking tea is also vulgar 😀

My MIL used to call it the 'light' bill

Though she also referred to central heating/radiators as 'the pipes'

It is electricity. We call it the light bill though even though our whole apartment is electric!