What do you call those places where a railroad crosses an automobile road?:
Of course, I've heard what they are called in English, but I suspect that they are referred to differently depending on whether the speaker is from UK, USA, Canada or Australia. So, please, specify in your answer what type of English you mean.
I also heard that these places can be referred to differently even within one country because of some subtle differences pertaining to those places. I don't really know what those differences are. It may be the width of the automobile road, or the difference in height between the level of the railroad and the automobile road, or, perhaps, the presence/absence of that red-white thing that goes down and up every time when the train passes.
Also, what do you call that very red-white thing itself? Especially, how would you describe its motions in this kind of sentence:
"At the (place), when the (thing) finally (lowered), it was obvious I would be late for the party"
What words you would substitute for those used in parentheses above?
Best Answer
I can't think of many terms for this... all I can think of is a crossing or railroad crossing (Merriam Webster).
As for the "red-white" thing I would call it a gate or railway/railroad crossing gate - very descriptive terms, but that is what I would use.
As for your sentence I would say "At the railroad crossing, when the gates finally lowered, it was obvious I would be late for the party".
Check out the "Rail crossing warning signs" from Wisconsin, there might be other resources from other parts of the English speaking world?
AFAIK, barrier is more common in British English for the "gates" talked about above. Australian English i have heard of booms - but about these two I'm not the one who should be asked ;-)