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Pedants' corner

rent vs hire??

4 replies

Mandalin · 17/04/2008 02:00

One can do both with a rental car, no?

But otherwise what are the rules with these words? Is it just a matter of collocation?

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ninedragons · 17/04/2008 02:34

I've never looked it up, but my personal feeling would be that you rent something for a prolonged period but hire it for a single use.

I would assume a rental car had a contract for a year or longer, and a hired car was for a week-long holiday.

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UnderRated · 17/04/2008 02:43

Doesn't help you but Americans don't really use the term hire. You rent everything for any amount of time.

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ninedragons · 17/04/2008 03:18

Very true. Whereas in British English, boys are the only thing you rent for a short time.

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UnderRated · 17/04/2008 18:46