[Lexicog] Percentage of idioms vs single words

[Peter Kirk]

On 04/02/2004 12:17, Mike Maxwell wrote:

> ...
>
> Putting it differently, a "city fire", "prairie fire", "building fire"
> etc.
> all have much the same kind of meaning as "forest fire": a fire in a
> location; while "paper fire", "oil fire", "coal fire" etc. are like "wood
> fire": a fire burning a substance.  But that's because forests (etc.) are
> locations, while wood (etc.) is a substance. ...

In British English probably more than other varieties, a wood, or the
woods, is also commonly a location - more or less a synonym of "forest"
except that a wood can be quite small and is usually deciduous, whereas
a forest is large and may be coniferous - and many places still called
"Forest" are now largely deforested. But in British woods and deciduous
forests destructive fires are rare, because these locations are usually
very damp. So the ambiguity of "wood fire" is resolved in favour of the
alternative meaning of "wood" as a material.


--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/




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