Make sure you pay your cleaning lady...

[Coito ergo sum]

Nope.
A spanner is called a spanner cos it spans the flats of a nut. A wrench does something similar, it grips something by grasping it.
Key is correct.
I think.

This is a spanner and a wrench.


Google "define spanner" -

span·ner
/ˈspanər/
Noun
A wrench.

Synonyms
wrench

wikipedia entry for wrench -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrench

[FBM]

They build houses on train tracks in Sweden?

Luckily, it's probably an IKEA house, which means it was only cardboard anyway. They'll just order a new one and assemble it themselves with an Allen wrench spannerKEY.

Wassamarrer, didn't no-one learn you to talk proper?

Oh, you got me. Busted. AKA: Hex key.

[mistermack]

Nope.
A spanner is called a spanner cos it spans the flats of a nut. A wrench does something similar, it grips something by grasping it.
Key is correct.
I think.

This is a spanner and a wrench.

We call that an adjustable spanner.

A wrench is normally something that grips, like Stillsons or Mole grips or a pipe wrench.
It's not surprising they get things wrong over the water, with all the immigration of foreign speakers.

[Bella Fortuna]

They build houses on train tracks in Sweden?

The station at Saltsjöbaden is a terminus, and that house is immediately beyond the end of the tracks.

The house IS the terminus now.

[Coito ergo sum]

Spanner: (n) a metal tool with a shaped end, used to turn nuts and bolts.

Wrench: (n) a spanner, usually one which can be made larger or smaller for holding and turning objects of different sizes.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

An Allen key has a shaped end and is used to turn nuts and bolts. It is also a wrench, because they are synonyms. Wrench, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is "a spanner," although they say it is "usually one which can be made larger or smaller..." -- that may be true in British English, but not in American English (in American English a wrench include crescent wrenches, socket wrenches, adjustable wrenches, and yes, Allen wrenches. A wrench is a tool for turning things, as distinct from a screwdriver. An Allen wrench is called a wrench because it is wrenched in the same way as a wrench, and is not turned like a screwdriver.

[mistermack]

Ha, the cambridge dictionary, for learners of English. Recommended for Americans.

Try turning a nut with an allen key.

[Coito ergo sum]

Ha, the cambridge dictionary, for learners of English. Recommended for Americans.

O.k., Eliza Doolittle. If you say so.

There are, like, six guys at Eton and nine at Harrow that speak proper English. The rest of the country, speaks roit good English, mayte, -- you know - in 'artford, 'ereford and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly 'appen and the rine in Spine fawls minely awn da pline.

[klr]

How ironic. This thread has been completely derailed in six different directions.

[Coito ergo sum]

H'ow oironic. Vis fred 'as been comploitely derayalled in six different directions.

[JimC]

They build houses on train tracks in Sweden?

Luckily, it's probably an IKEA house, which means it was only cardboard anyway. They'll just order a new one and assemble it themselves with an Allen wrench spanner.

We call 'em Allen keys, here...

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

This just in:-

Cleaner not at fault for Swedish train crash-prosecutors

The crash of a train into a low-rise apartment building in Sweden this week was an accident and not the fault of a cleaner who was the only person hurt, state prosecutors said on Friday.

Swedish police and prosecutors began an investigation into the accident on Tuesday in which a train ploughed past the end of the line at a depot, vaulted a narrow sidestreet and crashed into an apartment block in the upscale Stockholm suburb of Saltsjobaden.

"Several circumstances point now to the fact that the train began moving due to an accident," the state prosecution service said in a statement. "There is no longer anything which indicates that the woman drove the train away on purpose."

Looks like she's off the hook.

[Bella Fortuna]

Is that because, consistent with her profession, she efficiently wiped her fingerprints off?

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Surely the local mobsters would be interested in and pay handsomely for such talent.
I'm afraid cleaning is a skill well beyond my ken.

[Bella Fortuna]

I'm afraid cleaning is a skill well beyond my ken.

Maybe you should find someone besides Ken to do it then...

[Jason]

Allen key or Allen wrench. We go both ways here.