[Ads-l] turf (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

> On Sep 11, 2018, at 11:55 AM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL> wrote:
> 
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> 
>> 
>> 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 Caution-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.)
>> 
> 
> I don't drink coffee, but I'd bet that "creamer" would work the same way.
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> 
I suspect you’re right.  I remember an observation of Paul Kiparksky’s in a paper on the phenomenon of lexical blocking back in the early 1980s to the effect that a “cooker” is a device for cooking, not a person who cooks (i.e. a cook), while a “driller” is a person who drills, not a device for drilling (i.e. a drill).  In the same way, cream wouldn’t be called a creamer.  Technically, though, while sugar really is a sweetener, it could be argued that cream really *isn’t* a creamer.  The OED has for the latter (Draft Addition Sept. 2016):

A substitute for milk or cream, typically made from sweetened vegetable oils and fats, and stirred into coffee or tea in powdered or liquid form; = whitener n. 2b. Frequently with modifying word, as coffee, non-dairy, etc.  

Leaves open the question of whether cream (or half-and-half) might qualify as a "dairy creamer”…  

LH


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