water fountain..

[Mark A. Mandel]

"George S. Cole" <gscole at ARK.SHIP.EDU> writes:
>>>>>
The basic issue was that the
fountain was one of water, and it followed a pathway of some sort that
allowed for the sound of falling water to be heard.

Often the pathway is set up to resemble a series of lily pads or leaves
of some marsh plant.  Some are merely cascades, with no resemblance to
any living object.

I've been looking at a variety of fountains, for several years, and I've
seen an assortment of items being referred to as fountains.  Most had a
small fountain of water at the top, that then followed a cascaded path.
I wouldn't advise drinking the water from the fountain, but it is a
fountain.  Others are similar in all respects, except for the water
entering a 'pool' at the top of the fountain, and then flowing from the
pool down a cascaded path.  Can also be a setup in which the water, or
liquid, appears to seep out of a structure.

I've seen other art show items that were termed 'fountains', but there
was absolutely no movement of any type, except for something at the
molecular level.

So, I'm not sure how to define a water fountain, except I know one when
                 ******************************
I see one.  Your comment reminded me that there is another type, e.g.,
the hallway fountain, and one that escapes my thought when I now think
of fountains.
<<<<<

I see the problem not as "how do we define a water fountain?" (here's the
name, what does it refer to?) but as "what do we call this type of thing?"
(here's the object, what do we call it?) When I hear or see the unqualified
word "fountain" I think first of all of the kind of decorative outdoor
object I've seen in parks and public plazas, with water often but not
necessarily spraying or jetting up, but always circulating in some kind of
pool or large ornamental vessel. To me, the first word in "water fountain"
distinguishes the drinking kind from the ornamental kind-- not very logical
nomenclature, but that is how I have known the expression for decades. (I
grew up in and around NYC in the fifties and sixties.)

Now, if I understand correctly, you are trying to make the same or a
similar distinction de novo, and to do it by putting the modifier "water"
on the ornamental type of "fountain" that in the lexicon I learned is
called just a "fountain". Your reasoning escapes me, as I see the effect as
creating deep confusion for no clear reason. The only justification I can
think of for calling ornamental fountains "water fountains" is to
distinguish them from some (nonexistent, as far as I know) similar objects
that circulate oil or some other fluid. The garden and art show items you
mention all use water, but so do all the other kinds of actual object we
have discussed, so "water" as a qualifier is not informative. It is
justified for the drinking fountain by existing usage, but if "water
fountain" for (what you call) the hallway fountain is not in your
vocabulary, I suggest you use some more transparent compound to make the
contrast, such as "ornamental fountain" or "artistic fountain", and not
worry too much about whether the art is visual, aural, tactile (cooling and
humidifying the ambient air), or so on.

   Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
          Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com