Quote Originally Posted by chris-uk View Post
And here ends today's lesson in the "Educating Americans in Real English" series.
Smart alec

Quote Originally Posted by chris-uk View Post
The Post Office (I.e. Royal Mail) won't accept live reptiles, and neither will any of the main postal couriers operating in the UK.
Ahh.. but you admit, they are still couriers. They deliver packages. Doesn't matter what's in them. They're still couriers.

Quote Originally Posted by chris-uk View Post
what you call the mail man would be a "post man" or "postie". A "courier" is someone who carries parcels from A to B
Right. That's what I said. Whether it be Fedex, UPS, packages/parcels, or regular mail, if they deliver packages/parcels they are still couriers. All of them. What I was saying is that the job title here for the guy that delivers your bills and letters, and even packages, isn't "postman" "mailman" or "postie". We do indeed call them mailman or postman but the actual job title is still "courier". At least it is here.

I get what you're saying though. When you say "courier" you mean someone who delivers parcels, urgent mail, and packages, not the regular mail/post. there's hardly any distinction really since our "mail man" or "post man" often delivers parcels and packages too, not just letters and regular mail.