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Re: Interesting Words

From:Zach Bean <zb@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 6, 2001, 19:57
Delurking briefly to say some stuff about dirt...

On Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:17:26 -0500, Muke Tever scribbled (metaphorically
speaking, of course):

> > Clay isn't mud either. > > Bah! IMHO 'clay' and 'mud' are positiver and negativer labels for the same > thing (although mud may be more liquid, and clay more solid)
This sort of thing depends mostly on your definition of "dirt." If "dirt" == "soil", then clay (and in fact sand, as well as silt) is dirt. Or, more precisely, a component of dirt. As I recall, soils are very infrequently purely clay, or purely sand, or purely silt. Usually they're a combination of all three, leading to lovely triangle diagrams naming the various types of soil (leading to such distinct terms as "loamy sand" and "sandy loam")[1]. On the other hand, if "dirt" != "soil", then it's mostly a personal thing, I think. Zach Bean Relurking...