Re: "write him" was Re: More questions

John Cowan wrote:
> Stephen Mulraney scripsit:
>
>
>>But Ireland might as well be in the Pacific Ocean as
>>far as most Britishers are concerned.
>
>
> Perhaps a confusion between Ireland and New Ireland?  :-)
Hmm... I walked into that one!


>>I thought that might be asked :). Have a butcher's 'ere:
>>http://www.btinternet.com/~adlivingston/new-furniture.htm
> I consulted my local experts, who tell me that this is a "hutch"
> or a "china cupboard".
"Hutch" I've never heard before, except (as Isadora pointed out) in
"rabbit hutch".



>>>I share your view about "pot", and am frequently confused when my wife
>>>(a Southerner) refers to an obvious pot as a pan.  She calls all such
>>>utensils pans, whereas for me "pan" has to be qualified as "frying pan"
>>>or "cake pan" or such.
>>
>>Damn right!
>
>
> I think the other posting about handles has merit as well: pots have
> two handles by default, whereas pans have one or none at all.
I think two-handledness provides a useful prototype for thinking of pots,
but I've certainly seen, and use, pots with one handle (of the kind found
on a pan - a long "stem"). These tend to be smaller pots, though, since
a single stem handle become increasingly unmanageable as the size of the
- and the weight of its contents when full - increases. I have a fairly
large, heavy pot that has one handle, and it's not something that could
be mistaken for a (say, frying) pan.

Incidently, a "pan" means a "frying pan" to me. I don't know of any other
kind of "pan", so the addition of "frying" is redundant. I suppose I call
a "cake pan" something else (a "cake tray", possibly!)


>>Maybe it bypassed Ireland? "Clerk" and the philosopher present similar
>>problems to me,
>
>
> I can't quite tell from this whether you say [klAr\k] in a rhotic
> version of English pron., or whether you say [klr\=k] like Americans.
Ah, [kl@rk]'s the one (or something like [klark] in distinct enunciation).


--
I just need enough                    Stephen Mulraney
to tide me over                    ataltane@oceanfree.net
until I need more                    http://livejournal.com/~ataltane
    -- Bill Hoest                    http://ataltane.net

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