AA road maps [BE]

[MaryamSeresht]

Hi,

Would you please tell if AA in AA road maps is an abbreviation, or it's just a meaningless name?

[QUOTE]"My aunt had cancer," she said. " I mean, it's everywhere."She cast her eyes up and down the shop shelves, suggesting it was even to be found tucked behind the AA road maps and Turtle Wax polish.[/QUOTE]

I've searched for it but I've just found this link about a kind of route map:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_aa_route_map_really_work

The above link said:

AA route map is made to be used in Europe, Ireland and Great Britian. You enter your starting location and end destination and it tells you the best way to get there as well as shows hotels and other amenities along the way.

Many thanks
It's part of "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry"by Rachel Joyce, British writer.

 

[perpend]

In the USA we have AAA which is the American Automobile Association. Not sure if that helps.

 

[Hau Ruck]

As perpend said, it should be "AAA" maps not "AA". In the United States, "AA" stand for Alcoholics Anonymous (emphatically, I might add).

I have honestly heard people (in spoken context) say "AA" when they mean "AAA" and "AAA" when they mean "AA".
To see it mixed up in text is rather rare, though. I believe that mistake made it past the publisher.

 

[MaryamSeresht]

Thanks, perpend.

 

[Miss Julie]

But this is a British author talking about Britain and Europe. I don't think she has the American Automobile Association in mind...

 

[Bevj]

In the UK, the AA is the Automobile Association.

http://www.theaa.com/

 

[Hau Ruck]

But this is a British author talking about Britain and Europe. I don't think she has the American Automobile Association in mind...

Ah....that darn context that I overlooked! Gets me every time.

Time for a BrE speaker to give their two cents pence.

cross-posted with Bevj

 

[e2efour]

If you were a member of the Automobile Association (AA) and wanted details of how to get from one town to another, you used to be able to ask for a free route map which listed the recommended routes to follow. Often these routes were published in regional booklets, e.g. the West Country or Scotland, and also for foreign countries. Perhaps they still exist.

 

[Andygc]

Going back to the original question .......

The AA road maps are road maps published by the AA = Automobile Association (as Bevj said)