Ambiguous words

Very true, Peter

’though ‘Terminal’ does seem to pass the ambiguity test.

MichaelG.

.

Ref: **LINK**

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terminal

Woman.

I once had a copy of 'The Bible in Basic English' which restricted itself to a vocabulary of a few hundred words, supposedly to make it easier for non-English speakers to understand. Unfortunately the translator had not simplified the grammar and sentence structure at all, so it was, in my opinion, as diffcult to read and comprehend as the King James version.

While on the subject of ambiguous words, the word inflammable is a rare example of a word which has largely been retired and replaced by clearer alternatives.

George

So much so that newspapers now report that police said a house fire was deliberately lit using an "accelerant" which seems pretty meaningless. Makes me think of an oversized carburettor or something.

Another Janus-word for your list - fast.

How do you make a horse fast - tie it to a post.

I expect you will end up at University, possibly at Reading, reading reading.

I enjoyed this thread - it was never coarse ...

Regards, Tim

And how about 'qualified'?

- as in His time at College was only a qualified success.

Along with 'graduated' - marked with a series of lines, or, paid his tutor a large sum on the quiet

Tim

Hmm,,you could just muzzle the horse. Or if it’s an Arab wait for Ramadan?

Yes, I'm putting my coat on...

pgk

Am I right in thinking that ‘it’ is the most ambiguous two-letter word ?

MichaelG.

From today's crossword:

- Intend to be penny-pinching on average (4)

- Left with the threat of evil (8)

Sorry - spoiler alert:-

Mean

Sinister

Edited By Mick B1 on 28/04/2022 12:03:27

I was walking past a store in the shopping mall today. In the window was an advertisement picture of a middle-aged woman with the caption "To make her feel good".

It made me think of this thread.

Dunno why.

"Shop" and "store" are two ambiguous words.

Is what Americans/Canadians call a "store" ever described as a "shop" over there? Can you say "go storing" or does it have to be "go shopping"?

I've noticed UK-based Youtubers with engineering-related channels referring to their "shop", by which they mean "workshop". This appears not to have been native UK English usage until recently.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 28/04/2022 19:58:08

Bill - my grandfather was a joiner, and he had a top shop with the machinery in, and a bottom shop where he made gates and stuff that wouldn't go down the stairs. And he retired in about 1950. So, at least in the N of England, it goes back a fairly long way.

Cheers, Tim

I had also assumed that ‘shop’ ,meaning workshop, was just another of the Americanisms we were stuck with but in Stanley Holloway’s ‘Three ha’pence a foot’ Sam Oswaldthwaite followed his trade ‘in a shop on the banks of the Irwell’ and that dates back to 1932 at least. Also relevant to present fears of rising sea levels!

Not usually, although you get a mixture of English and American in Canada so it's possible. And yes, we go shopping (at the store).

I think though, most Canadians as well as Americans would understand "shop" to mean some kind of workshop/machine-shop environment or car servicing ... "my car's in the shop" .

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 28/04/2022 22:43:11

Thanks for the word from the street, Peter. I'll run this past my Canadian cousin too next time I speak to her.

A valuable anecdote, Duncan, and one borne out by section 4a of the entry for "shop" in the OED:

"4.a. A building or room equipped and used for a particular craft or manufacturing trade; a workshop (frequently as opposed to an office). In later use also (spec.): a room or department in a factory where a particular stage of production is carried out (frequently with distinguishing word)."

Slightly overlapping with this is section 2:

"2. A house or building where goods are made or prepared for sale and also sold. Now archaic and rare."

So it appears that if goods are sold as well as made in the place, calling it a shop is archaic and rare, at least according to the OED, which, language being what it is, can never be an infallible guide to usage.

My own limited knowledge of the difference between American/Canadian and British "shop" was until now confined to what we're told in the note added to 3a:

"In British English, shop usually refers to any building or part of a building where goods are sold, whereas in North America this kind of building is usually called a store (store n. 12), while shop more commonly refers to a place where things are done or made, or to a smaller retail establishment offering a limited range of goods. In British English store is usually a large retail complex, such as a department store."

Edited By Bill Phinn on 28/04/2022 23:33:09

This is a good point actually ... a small retail establishment here might well be called a shop.

Shop = place to do things occurs in many compound words - spray shop, press-shop, assembly shop, welding shop, etc

And store = place to keep stuff, in paint store, cold store, feed store, etc.

And then, place where stuff just happens = room, as in drying room, wet room, cold room, store-room.

Tim

I'll see your 1932 and raise you a 1774 plan of Chatham Dockyard shewing amongst the various houses, lofts and cabbins (yes, two 'Bs before anybody asks if that is the question) the Glazier's, Brazier's and Plumber's Shops, the House Carpenter's Shop, the Wheelwright's Shop, The Smith's Shop, the Armourer's Shop, the Stone Mason's Shop and the Painter's Shop.

Brian G

Fair enough,looks like we can’t blame the Americans for this one!