[Ads-l] turf

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here are two citations from a quick search exploring the shifting
senses of the word "turf". The goal was to find examples of "turf"
employed in a way that excludes "grass".

Example one: 1973 in the American football domain; contains the
statement: "I used to hate turf. Now I hate grass."

Date: November 13, 1973
Newspaper: The Miami News
Newspaper Location: Miami, Florida
Article: Orange Bowl grass is doing its job
Author: John Crittenden (Sports Editor)
Quote Page 17A, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems the beefs about the Orange
Bowl playing surface are starting to fade, which is just as well,
since artificial grass is here to stay.

The complaints are not nearly as intense as they were in the early
days of the conversion to plastics, when the Dolphins used to go over
the game films and announce the dumber of slips. There are still some
slips at the Orange Bowl, high school, college and pro, but the
players appear to have learned to live with it.

"You can master the turf," Mercury Morris said after Sunday's Dolphin
game. "You can slowly learn to run on it. I prefer it now. I used to
hate turf. Now I hate grass."
[End excerpt]

Example two: 2003 in the field hockey domain; contains the statement:
(Ellipsis in original text) "Bermuda grass ... is a great field, but
on turf you can move the ball 10 times faster".

Date: November 7, 2003
Newspaper: The Baltimore Sun
Newspaper Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Article: Field hockey: Switch to turf brings speed, skills to surface
Author: Katherine Dunn (Sun Staff)
Quote Page E9, Column 1 and 2
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
For many of the players in this year's state field hockey semifinals,
a big motivating factor in reaching the state finals has been the
chance to play on turf.

This fall, for the first time in the 30-year history of the state
field hockey championships, the event will be played on Astro-Turf, at
the University of Maryland's new Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

"Oh my gosh, we are so excited," said Severna Park's Lauren Maranto.
"Turf is where you can play awesome hockey. Bermuda grass ... is a
great field, but on turf you can move the ball 10 times faster and
that's where your stickwork really comes into play."

Hereford's Samantha Sebastian agreed. "The ball moves so much faster
on turf and the game is more skill-oriented and we have skill," said
the senior defender.
[End excerpt]

Garson
On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 10:59 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> > On Sep 10, 2018, at 9:51 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > This past weekend my 13-year-old grandson and I went to a high school football game, during which a rainstorm struck.  As we sat watching wetly, I remarked, "I reckon the turf is getting all torn up."  Grandson replied, "It isn't turf; it's grass."
> >
> > I realized that his sole association of the word "turf" is "artificial turf," from which his "turf" represents a clipping (or perhaps from "astroturf").  Cf. the orthopedic term "turf toe."  So we now have the anomalous situation in which there exist two contrasting kinds of surfaces for a football or soccer field, referred to (respectively) as "turf" and "turf."
> >
> > —Charlie
> >
>
> Great example!  It’s not quite the same, but “sweetener” is typically taken to exclude “sugar”, which may also be thought of as “artificial” clipping.  As a pragmatics experiment, I ask for “sweetener” every time I order coffee on an airplane and 17 straight times I’ve been handed an artificial sweetener (yellow, pink, or blue), never sugar.  I also just picked up a pamphlet at my local supermarket entitled “Sugars and Sweeteners”; for another example, see https://alittlebityummy.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-low-fodmap-sugars-sweeteners/.  I can imagine complaining to the flight attendant upon getting a white packet, “This isn’t a sweetener, it’s sugar!” (If I get the chance to try it, I’ll watch for their response.)
>
> The difference is that I think most people would acknowledge under duress that sugar really is a sweetener, even if we don’t call it one (and even if asking for a sweetener implicates that we don’t want sugar), while many and possibly most people would deny that grass is turf.  Maybe sort of like “square” vs. “rectangle”?
>
> YMMV
>
> LH
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