[Ads-l] A spade is not a shovel.

[Barretts Mail]

LOL. I wondered after I sent that if anyone would see my typo. It should have said that “spades are more common.” I think it shows the degree to which they really all are shovels to me. BB

> On 31 Jul 2017, at 20:00, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> "When I’m shoveling dirt, I usually use a spade because ...
> shovels are more common ..."
> 
> Well, I certainly have to give you that one.
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 3:42 AM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> What would be interesting to know is whether people who regularly use both
>> types of tools use the distinction, in which case “spade” might remain in
>> the US as jargon.
>> 
>> When I’m shoveling dirt, I usually use a spade because: 1) it’s lighter,
>> 2) shovels are more common, and 3) it doesn’t occur to me that there is an
>> advantage to using the squarish type.
>> 
>> BB
>> 
>>> On 30 Jul 2017, at 23:08, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> “shovel” is US for “spade.”
>>> 
>>> Is that true of all 320,000,000 Americans, except for me, do you think?
>> Of
>>> course, you are relying upon the authority of the Web and there's no
>>> arguing with that. Perhaps the distinction will die with me, in about
>> five
>>> years.
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 12:05 AM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Despite my mom teaching me the difference about four decades ago,
>> they’re
>>>> all shovels to me. Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shovel <
>>>> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shovel>) says that “shovel” is US for
>>>> “spade.” BB
>>>> 
>>>>> On 30 Jul 2017, at 19:36, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> A bunch of guys on TV with spades are calling them "shovels." Aren't
>> you
>>>>> supposed to call a spade a "spade"? Or is the distinction between a
>> spade
>>>>> and a shovel being lost, at least among city-folk, since no one uses
>>>> spades
>>>>> to dig ditches or uses shovels to shovel coal, anymore?
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> -Wilson
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> -Wilson
>>> -----
>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>> -Mark Twain
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org