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

[Wilson Gray]

"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