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

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 4:22 PM, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
>
>
> Maybe your usage is a feature of Singaporean English.
>
Indeed, perhaps. Or maybe it was just a feature of my teacher's 'lect,
because I realised that I'm in the minority of Singaporeans who have this
restriction. Or maybe the others were influenced by foreign TV programming.


>
> "A cloth" nay be used that way here also. But I've grown up hearing and
> using "a cloth" also to mean "a piece of cloth appropriate to the context',
> i.e. it could refer to a 'tea-towel'/'wiping-up cloth', a dish-cloth, a
> table-cloth etc., depending on context. If the meaning is not clear I's use
> the full term, i.e. 'dish-cloth', 'table-cloth'.
>
> To me 'a piece of cloth' suggests something torn or cut from a larger piece
> and waiting to be put to some use.
>
>
Instinctively, when I  read that last sentence, I shuddered at what has been
to my mind for the past twenty years inaccurate semantics. The power of
habituation!

The interesting thing is, "dishcloth" and "tablecloth" and other compounds
can be used as is.

Eugene

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