Do any non-Americans also think it's weird that Americans call petrol 'gas'? Specifically that their 'gas' is a liquid. Dunno, just stoned and thought of it.
GASOLINE is liquid fuel, and America uses that exactly that. PETROL is refined PETROLEUM, petroleum produces several forms of fuel including but not limited to butane, jet fuel diesel, kerosine, gasoline, natural gas, (which exists in a gaseous form used in gas cookers) amongst other products, petroleum is the most useful natural resource. Gasoline and Petrol are the same thing, just with different additives and slightly different mixtures, but not so much that a car from UK cant fill up a tank in US and drive off. so why do american's say Gasoline? well the word gasoline was first used as a brand name for the relatively new petroleum distillate in the late 1800s in US (it wasn't really a motor fuel just yet). A little known fact is that it was initially used as a topical medicinal—to rid folks of head lice. Gasoline was actually a brand in the same way that Vaseline is a brand name for petroleum jelly. And while gasoline as a word was never officially registered as a trademark, it isn't really a gas either (not in the chemical sense anyway)—it’s a liquid, not a vapor. Methane (pretty much natural gas) is true gas, no liquid involved. However, the word gas has become synonymous with fuel and will ever be a part of our vernacular until the day it gets replaced by a new, better, cheaper alternative fuel. And how about petroleum? The word petroleum comes from the Greek roots "petra," meaning rock, and "oleum," meaning oil. In other words, petroleum is "rock oil." While we’ve been taught that gasoline and diesel comes from dead dinosaurs and that's why we call them fossil fuels, they’re not really. They are actually rock fuels. I hope that answers your question.