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Re: Interesting Words

From:Zach Bean <zb@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 6, 2001, 20:09
Oops, forgot to define my footnote...  (for the record, I've never delurked on
*any* mailing list/newsgroup without messing up my first message.  Ever.)

On Tue, 06 Nov 2001 14:47:44 -0500, CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU scribbled
(metaphorically speaking, of course):

> 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...
[1] A quick google search for "soil triangle" found one of those diagrams at http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/Plants_Human/soiltriangle.gif Zach Bean