Re: [YAEUT] Lexical variation survey

Probably too late for your survey, but what the heck.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Drinkwater" <mizunomi@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>

> Date of birth:
1955

> Sex:
Male

> Where do you currently live? (city, state/province, country)
Clinton, Michigan, USA

> Please list the places you've lived between age 4 and
> age 18, with the most recent first:
Clinton, Michigan, USA

> Occupation:
Computer Programer

> Highest level of education completed:
B.S.

> Ethnic heritage:
Irish, English, German, although all my ancestors
have been born in the United States for at least three
generations.

> What is/are your native language(s)?
American English

> Roughly how many years have you been conlanging
> or studying linguistics?
A friend and I created a Romance conlang back in
high school (around 1970), but it's only been about
ten years that I've seriously gotten into it.

> How many years ago did you first encounter / begin
> reading (not necessarily join / begin posting on) an
> online conlanging community?
About twelve years.

> For each of the following items, please choose
> which word you use most often, or put the word
> you do use if it's not a choice. Feel free to leave
> comments if some aspect of your usage is note-
> worthy (eg if you are
"if you are . . . " what?

> 1. the metal device over a sink or bathtub that
> controls the flow of water: faucet, spigot, tap
faucet

> 2. the apparatus from which you'd get a drink
> of water in a public place: bubbler, drinking
> fountain, water fountain
drinking fountain  (I've never heard the term "bubbler.")

> 3. the device that firefighters attach their hoses to:
> fire hydrant, fire plug
fire hydrant

> 4. the container in which you'd put water for
> washing the car or the floor: bucket, pail
usually pail, sometime bucket

> 5. a machine that performs banking services:
> ATM, automated teller, bank machine, cash
> machine, cash point, guichet, hole in the wall,
> money machine, commercial name (eg MAC
> machine, Instant Teller, Instabank)
ATM

> 6. stuff you throw away:
> garbage, rubbish, trash
garbage if it has perishable stuff in it, otherwise trash

> 7. the wheeled conveyance you put your groceries
> in while shopping: basket, buggy, cart, trolley
shopping cart

> 8. a shallow pan for frying eggs or meat:
> fry pan, frying pan, griddle, skillet, spider
frying pan

> 9. a piece of chocolate, 4-6 inches long:
> bar, candy bar, chocolate bar
candy bar

> 10. a carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage, like
> Coke or Sprite: coke, cola, cold drink, fizzy
> drink, pop, soda, soda pop, soft drink, tonic
I grew up saying "pop" like everyone else in my
area, but I've been consiously changing to "soda."

> 11. cooking outside over a charcoal grill in
> the summertime: barbecuing, grilling, grilling
> out, having a cookout
grilling ("cookout" implies having guests over)

> 12. a cold sandwich on a foot-long roll:
> sub(marine), hero, hoagie, grinder
sub

> 13. the sweet, creamy layer on top of a cake:
> frosting, icing
frosting

> 14. your main evening meal:
> dinner, supper
If the main meal is at midday, then that is
dinner and the evening meal is supper.

If lunch is at midday, then I'd call the large
evening meal either dinner or supper, about 50-50.

> 15. food picked up and taken home to eat:
> carry-out, take-away, take-out
take-out

> 16. an appliance on which you heat food in saucepans:
> cooker, range, stove
stove

> 17. knives, forks, and spoons:
> cutlery, flatware, silverware, utensils
silverware (I've never heard of "plasticware." If
it's made of plastic, it's "plastic silverware.")

> 18. contact someone by telephone:
> call, phone, ring, telephone, buzz
call

> 19. the toilet facilities in a public place:
> bathroom, facilities, ladies' room / men's room,
> lavatory, loo, restroom, toilet, washroom,
> WC, john
In a private residence, I'd say "bathroom," but
in a public place I'd say "restroom." However,
all my friends and relatives simply say "bathroom"
regardless of where it is.

> 20. athletic shoes worn with jeans as casual
> footwear: gym shoes, plimsolls, runners,
> running shoes, sneakers, tennis shoes, trainers,
> brand name (eg Adidas)
tennis shoes   (In college, the guy in the next room
was an avid tennis player and was on the college
tennis team. He would go ballistic when someone
referred to casual shoes as "tennis shoes." He
insisted they were "sneakers"; that "tennis shoes"
were made specifically for playing tennis.)

> 21. a sweatshirt with front pockets and a hood:
> hooded sweatshirt, hoodie, kangaroo jacket,
> bunnyhug
Until recently, I would have said "hooded sweat-
shirt," but I've now adopted "hoodie."

("bunnyhug"????)

> 22. a piece of furniture that seats 3 people:
> couch, chesterfield, davenport, divan, settee, sofa
couch usually, sometimes sofa. (My mother used to
call it a davenport, but to me that's just a city in Iowa.
To me, a chesterfield is just a brand of cigarettes.)

> 23. a piece of furniture with drawers for socks,
> underwear, etc.: bureau, chest (of drawers),
> drawers, dresser, highboy
dresser

> 24. the last letter of the alphabet:
> zed, zee
zee

> 25. the place where you pay for something in a store:
> cash, cash register, cashier, check-out, till
In a large store, it's the check-out; in a small store,
it's the register. I'd only use the term "till" to refer
to the cash register itself and only if I were an employee
there.

--Ph. D.