Re: Different words for one thing

"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> Of course, where I live, that is the rule, not the exception. (No
> sane person drinks *hot* tea in the Texas heat).
Right, but y'all are *Texans*, not English.  :-)

> But in their environment it *is* unnecessary -- ice is by definition an
> artificial phenomenon for them.  Until recently (= this century), I doubt
> that many Malaysians had ever actually seen the stuff. If they were to
> all move to an environment where water turned into ice naturally, almost
> immediately, I'm sure, they'd adopt some word for it.
Hmm, makes sense.  But, I doubt they'd adopt one "almost immediately".
They have a phrase, _ayer beku_ meaning "solidified water" for ice.  And
at least some of them probably have freezers, so they'd be familiar with
ice these days.

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