<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 4:09 AM, Andy Robinson (blackadder-lists) <<a href="mailto:ajrlists@googlemail.com">ajrlists@googlemail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Both are created by man. A canal is normally navigable and a drain is not. A<br>
canal is for carrying goods and people, a drain is for transporting water<br>
much like a river but the drain has been dug by man rather than nature.<br>
Drains can be anything from quite narrow watercourses to very large<br>
constructions depending on how much water they carry.<br>
<br>
Hope this helps.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Andy<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>Wow, that's not obvious to the casual (non-UK) observer. In the US, the usage of "canal" is different. They're almost never navigable, and even small drainage ditches are commonly called "canals". Almost no-one here would call any kind of waterway a "drain". Definitely clarify that on the Wiki.<br>
<br>Karl<br>