Let's talk about parking!

Now here in Japan if you live in the city you don't really need to think about parking all that much but in many parts of North America the car is king and parking can be a big issue so today we'll look at some parking related words.

Most homes have a driveway. This is the strip of asphalt or gravel you drive up to get to your house, in the countryside or for rich people with a big estate the driveway can be quite long but most people simply have enough space to park one or two cars.

When we talk about parking we use three similar sounding words:

parking lot

This is usually the big parking area around a shop or mall. It's also the area under buildings or the lot where many people leave their cars and have to pay an hourly(or daily) parking fee to park their cars.

A: Did you hear about that innovative parking lot in Florida?

B: No, what's so special about it?

A; It's a multi-story parking garage but instead of being all gray concrete it's full of shops and even trees. Take a look!

http://www.isaacsandcompany.com/listings/1111-lincoln-road/

B: Wow, I can't believe that's a parking lot!

Often, when it isn't a lot (a piece of land, usually empty) but is instead a building we call it a parking garage. 

parking space

This is used as a place where you regularly park your car. Think of an office building where many parking spaces are assigned to employees and have their names written on them using paint. The key thing here is when you say parking space, you emphasize it's yours & you probably often park there.  It conveys a sense of possession.

This morning when I came into work, some car was in my parking space!

I moved into the city and I need to find a parking space for my car.

parking spot

This is more casual than parking space and it feels more temporary. We often use this when looking for a place to park... Parking space & parking spot can be used interchangeably. It is more of a feeling than a hard rule and can change based on different English dialects

I spent 30 minutes driving around the mall parking lot looking for a parking spot!

I hate driving downtown, it takes forever to find a parking spot on the street & I refuse to pay the high prices at paid parking lots.

Can you believe it? We found a parking spot so close to the elevators? We got lucky!    

Have a nice weekend,

Phil