adulteration

[user_gary]

I just don't see how someone can easily make money by defiling or corrupting petrol pumps. In BE we use adulterate to mean to dilute a liquid, usually by adding some other less expensive liquid. The racket you suggest - fraudulently causing the pumps to misread the quantities - would be more likely called a petrol pump scam or a petrol pump misreading fraud. The word adulterate suggests to me that it was the petrol which was in some way debased, by the addition of some cheaper volatile liquid, than the misreading scam you suggest. Of course to call it the petrol pump adulteration racket does suggest that something was done to the pumps themselves, but the word adulteration is too particular to allow for such an explanation, in my view.

Though I know every word in the above highlighted group of words. I can't understand it as a whole when I read it.

Could you explain it please?

 

[clairanne]

Hi

I agree that "adulteration" means to "spoil" and I have never heard it used in any other way either.
I would call it a " Petrol pump scam"

 

[mrbilal87]

I just don't see how someone can easily make money by defiling or corrupting petrol pumps. In BE we use adulterate to mean to dilute a liquid, usually by adding some other less expensive liquid. The racket you suggest - fraudulently causing the pumps to misread the quantities - would be more likely called a petrol pump scam or a petrol pump misreading fraud. The word adulterate suggests to me that it was the petrol which was in some way debased, by the addition of some cheaper volatile liquid, than the misreading scam you suggest. Of course to call it the petrol pump adulteration racket does suggest that something was done to the pumps themselves, but the word adulteration is too particular to allow for such an explanation, in my view.

Though I know every word in the above highlighted group of words. I can't understand it as a whole when I read it.

Could you explain it please?

Overall it's saying that instead of being called "petrol pump adulteration racket", the act of fraudulently (maliciously, cheating) causing the pumps to misread the quantities (the cost of the amount of gas per litre) should be more accurately called "a petrol pump scam" or a "petrol pump misreading scam" ("misread" means to read incorrectly). The word adulteration suggest that something extra was added to the gas to dilute it.

 

[Thomas Tompion]

Hi Gary, I wrote that passage. Is it clear now? Or would you like me to go through it for you?

 

[user_gary]

Thank you.
I got it.