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

[Laurence Horn]

> On 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

For me, “spade" is a hyponym of “shovel”.  If it’s got a pointed end, it’s a spade (and also a shovel), if not, it’s a shovel (but not a spade).  I have three snow shovels in my garage (different materials and shapes) but no snow spade, but there’s a spade for digging in/up the garden with a nice pointy end.

LH
> 
>> 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

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