Apparently there's a lot of different terms...

Apr 21, 2010 14:04

Okay. I’m officially intrigued.

a poll of cupboard names )

keyword-109, keyword-6

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xlivvielockex April 21 2010, 04:28:17 UTC
Huh, interesting. I never really had distinction because it's all just a cabinet. Except where my clothes are, that is a closet. Maybe cause I like things simple or it could be my dad's English wasn't always the best so it was easier to just call anything with doors that didn't have clothes in it a cabinet. LOL

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deird1 April 21 2010, 04:31:51 UTC
Huh, interesting.

To me, "cabinet" means a specific thing with glass doors for displaying interesting things like pretty teacups.

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xlivvielockex April 21 2010, 04:34:08 UTC
See, to me that is a hutch or you put china before it to make it a china cabinet or china hutch.

I think it depends on region and what you grew up with. If your parents/family called it X, then it would be X. I don't think there is really any right or wrong, is there? I mean, just what works for you?

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deird1 April 21 2010, 04:39:22 UTC
I don't think there is really any right or wrong, is there? I mean, just what works for you?

True - although if I've learnt one thing from the incy wincy spider debate, it's that people are willing to defend "what I grew up with" to the death...

I'd only ever expect "hutch" to be something you put rabbits in. :)

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xlivvielockex April 21 2010, 04:43:55 UTC
Hmm, that is very interesting (as I'm sure this discussion will be as well) that it looks again, to be what you grew up with, what is familiar to you.

I saw above that you had commented to angearia that it seems to be split with Americans and I would tend to agree. My mom is East Coast, she called it cabinets and hutch. My West Coast friends call it cupboard.

I bet if you googled kitchen cupboard and kitchen cabinet, the same results would come up. Seems to be a regional thing. Like pop and soda and Coke (as in people calling ALL carbonated beverages Coke despite brand).

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deird1 April 21 2010, 04:46:08 UTC
I bet if you googled kitchen cupboard and kitchen cabinet, the same results would come up. Seems to be a regional thing. Like pop and soda and Coke (as in people calling ALL carbonated beverages Coke despite brand).

Very possibly a regional thing.

(You guys should just start calling them "soft drinks", like sensible people do...)

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xlivvielockex April 21 2010, 04:49:28 UTC
OH! I forgot I had this page bookmarked from an old paper I did. It's old but still a good resource.

Pop vs Soda by region

Another interesting look at regional differences to say the least.

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deird1 April 21 2010, 04:54:30 UTC
Ooh... Demographicy goodness...

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penny_lane_42 April 21 2010, 14:36:22 UTC
THAT IS MY FAVORITE MAP EVER!

I periodically have a discussion about it in my journal, just because I'm madly obsessed with the pop/soda/coke debate. Maybe it's time for another one?

For what it's worth, it's coke. Always coke.

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lavastar April 22 2010, 01:52:10 UTC
Huh blurr huh whah shuhhhh.

I have never ever actually ever irl ever met someone who says only coke! That's crazy. How do you know if you're asking for Coke the brand, or any soda - Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, Fanta, etc.?

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penny_lane_42 April 22 2010, 02:05:36 UTC
See, and I hadn't met anyone who called it soda till college. I knew a few people who said pop--I have some cousins in Indiana--but never, ever soda. That's what people say on TV, like supermarket for grocery store, that no one in real life ever says. *shrug ( ... )

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lavastar April 22 2010, 02:13:51 UTC
Huh, interesting. I suppose that works the same as with soda - you say soda and then clarify what brand - but it's weird because with Coke, that's one of the possible brands you could want, especially since up here no one everrrr says Coca-cola. That's what makes it different from Xerox/Band-aid/Kleenex - you don't have to ask someone for a Kleenex and then specify that no, I wanted the Puffs instead. I dunno.

And I've never heard of saying co-cola, that's so interesting! Language is funny.

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penny_lane_42 April 22 2010, 02:22:50 UTC
I guess it's more like saying "chips." Now that can mean straight-up potato chips (which can be shortened to just chips) or Doritos or Cheetos or something.

The co-cola thing is dying out, I think. It was definitely a Deep South thing up until the last decade or so. I think it's being slowly overtaken by coke. Which is kind of sad.

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deird1 April 22 2010, 02:23:44 UTC
That's what makes it different from Xerox/Band-aid/Kleenex

Erm, see my reply to Lauren. :)

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deird1 April 22 2010, 02:21:26 UTC
Kind of like the way you say Kleenex or Band-Aid.

...but I don't. :)

Down here, we all say band-aid, but anyone asking for "Kleenex" would be un-utterably weird. And if you asked for a "Xerox", no-one would know what you meant. They're tissues and photocopies.

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penny_lane_42 April 22 2010, 02:31:11 UTC
Well, the "you" there was lavastar... ;D

But that's interesting that you do say band-aid but don't say Kleenex. I loooove etymology.

It's always fascinating to me when words fall into public domain--like Kleenex or Band-Aid or escalator. At this point, I feel like the only word that is still trademarked by a company but that's also used as a sort of generic name is Dobro, and the legal battles surrounding that have been interesting to say the least. Do you even know what that is?

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