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

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