Re: Question: Different English names for "picnic cloth"

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 12:02 PM, R A Brown <ray@...>wrote:

>
> I was born and brought up in Sussex (UK) and have always known 'cloth' to
> be usable as both a mass and a count noun. I find nothing strange in "a
> cloth" nor in the plural "cloths."
>
>
That was in Singapore. It is possible to use "a cloth" or "cloths" too, just
that they are slightly more specific in the same way that "water" and
"waters" have different meanings. "A cloth" or "this cloth" would refer to a
specific type of cloth/material or an instantiation thereof. "Cloths" tends
to be more figurative.

Eugene

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