American English speaker, here: reading John Le Carre.
"The Circus" refers to Cambridge Circus, what I would call in the U.S. a traffic circle. I've also seen the term "roundabout" used.
What's the difference? Size? Is one usage more current than the other?
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
Essentially, none.
Roundabout is commonly used - you know what we mean by this; circular road markings, or a physical feature creating the circle such as an island in the middle of the road or a monument (e.g. Piccadilly Circus has the Shaftesbury Memorial and the statue of Anteros in the center), that the traffic circles around as a means of managing traffic at an intersection.
Circus is defined as a round open space at a street junction, essentially a roundabout, it's an older term and it's more commonly used to refer to larger spaces - e.g. if it was just a meter wide road marking it'd not be called a 'circus'.
charlatan
ever heard of traffic island.
RE
I have never heard of a road marking called a circus... They are all roundabouts as far as I know. Circuses in my life experience have only been the type with clowns etc.