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Re: CHAT: living conditions/conditionally Re: Miscellaneous Nonsense

From:Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
Date:Friday, August 18, 2000, 20:05
On Fri, 18 Aug 2000, The Gray Wizard wrote:

> > > I've always wondered about the distribution of this phrase -- "chest > > > of drawers". > > > My mother uses it, but I've always used "dresser" or "bureau". Are > > > there any > > > dialects this is associated with? > > > > > Tom Wier | "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." > > > > Well, in my family we always used it, (and the "of" is always just [@]) > > but we also use "dresser" (but never "bureau"). A [tSEst@'drOrz] is > > thinner (about a yard wide) and taller (coming up to about > > shoulder-height). We have two of those at home, and my parents also have > > I may be dating myself here, but this was also sometimes called a "highboy". > > > shoulder-height). We have two of those at home, and my parents also have > > a ['drEs@r], which is shorter (about waist-height) and wider (about two > > and two-thirds yards wide) and what's important is that it has mirrors > > sticking up from it, to use when you're getting *dressed*. > > That's a "dresser" alright. Although I'm familiar with the term "bureau", I > never knew whether it referred to a "highboy"/"chest of drawers" or a > "dresser" > > David
You're all ahead of me. I can't keep any of these terms straight; you have to *point* me to the thing. My mom always referred to these various things in Korean, so I never learned the English for 'em in *any* dialect, and now that I've forgotten most of my Korean.... OC, you're safer pointing me in the right direction anyway, since I can barely tell right from left. <wry g> Speaking of which, are there any languages that *don't* use right/left, or use them differently, or...? I've always wondered about that. YHL