# A plastic glass, an online paper, and other material contradictions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836 "2022-04-14T19:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/121 "2022-04-20T19:05:12Z")
Okay. Would you accept the UK usages of “wool” to mean any kind of yarn, i.e., thick stranded fiber used for knitting etc. even if the fiber is synthetic rather than wool, and “cotton” to mean any kind of sewing thread even if the fiber is synthetic rather than cotton? (Personally I think “quilt” as originally derived from “a piece of quilted fabric” does actually meet your criteria, as much as “film” or “paper” or any other specifically constructed type of material does. But, your OP, your rules.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/122 "2022-04-20T19:07:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Ones that sort of work include > > - A lead I’m not sure why you count that only as ‘sort of’. Certainly a refill for a mechanical pencil is called ‘a lead’. If the graphite in your pencil runs out, you need to fit ‘a new lead’. If you wish to stock up on refills, you need to buy ‘a box of leads’. _Lead_ is an object. [Example](https://www.penheaven.co.uk/rotring-0-7mm-pencil-leads). Also, I suggested ‘a chalk’ before. Did you miss that, or do you disagree for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/123 "2022-04-20T19:13:04Z")
“A copper” in the (admittedly somewhat arcane/archaic, also pretty UK-specific) sense of a [“wash house copper”](https://www.1900s.org.uk/copper-water-heater.htm) or large boiler for a laundry room or hot-water system. Originally, and preferably, made of actual copper, hence the name. But it was far more common to manufacture them of cheaper cast iron. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/124 "2022-04-20T19:26:53Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Okay. Would you accept the UK usages of “wool” to mean any kind of yarn, i.e., thick stranded fiber used for knitting etc. even if the fiber is synthetic rather than wool, and “cotton” to mean any kind of sewing thread even if the fiber is synthetic rather than cotton? Would you call something “a wool”? I’ve never heard that. I’m not looking for a material that doesn’t include its namesake, so “wool” as a material/uncountable noun wouldn’t qualify. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Personally I think “quilt” as originally derived from “a piece of quilted fabric” does actually meet your criteria Not at all. Consider how the object “glass” relates to the material “glass.” Exact same word for object and material. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I’m not sure why you count that only as ‘sort of’. Certainly a refill for a mechanical pencil is called ‘a lead’. If the graphite in your pencil runs out, you need to fit ‘a new lead’. If you wish to stock up on refills, you need to buy ‘a box of leads’. _Lead_ is an object. [Example](https://www.penheaven.co.uk/rotring-0-7mm-pencil-leads). Yes, but people don’t, and never did, pick up “a lead” made from lead. Although people once wrote with lead, and although mechanical pencils have “lead,” there was not an object called “a lead” that was made from lead, in the same way that a glass is made from glass. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Also, I suggested ‘a chalk’ before. Did you miss that, or do you disagree for some reason. In my dialect we have “a piece of chalk” or “a stick of chalk,” never “a chalk.” Looking at dictionaries, I’m not finding that as a definition. > [@Kimstu](#): > > “A copper” in the (admittedly somewhat arcane/archaic, also pretty UK-specific) sense of a [“wash house copper”](https://www.1900s.org.uk/copper-water-heater.htm) or large boiler for a laundry room or hot-water system. That’s a weird and archaic one, but I suppose it works. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/125 "2022-04-20T19:36:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > In my dialect we have “a piece of chalk” or “a stick of chalk,” never “a chalk.” Looking at dictionaries, I’m not finding that as a definition. Maybe a British English thing. But over here we have ‘chalks’ not ‘sticks of chalk’. [![](https://assets.whsmith.co.uk/product-image/extra-small/31884921_1.jpg) ](https://assets.whsmith.co.uk/product-image/extra-small/31884921_1.jpg) [![](https://assets.whsmith.co.uk/product-image/extra-small/31884945_1.jpg) ](https://assets.whsmith.co.uk/product-image/extra-small/31884945_1.jpg) And also [dictionary definition #2](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/chalk) (noun) _a prepared piece of chalk or chalklike substance for marking, as for writing on a blackboard._ ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/126 "2022-04-20T19:36:07Z")
Would the mercury in a thermometer work? People still refer to “the mercury” when relaying a temperature even if the stuff inside isn’t made from that. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/127 "2022-04-20T20:15:04Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But if folks commonly say, “Hand me a wood,” meaning something made of plastic, or “Hand me an iron,” meaning something made of aluminum, then those would count Yeah, people will talk about playing a shot with a wood or an iron, and they’ll be made of titanium, stainless steel, aluminium, carbon fibre… ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/128 "2022-04-20T20:29:22Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s a weird and archaic one, but I suppose it works. Going farther afield yet into foreign languages, I think the French “plume” (literally and originally “feather”, now primarily “pen”) is an exactly parallel instance to what you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/129 "2022-04-20T21:17:49Z")
Someone earlier mentioned “a rubber”, meaning a pencil eraser… but that one doesn’t actually work, because the naming went the other way around: A pencil eraser is a “rubber”, because it’s a thing that rubs, and the material “rubber” was named after that. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/130 "2022-04-20T21:38:33Z")
Here’s another valid one: A [corset “bone”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_(corsetry)) was originally so called because it was made from whalebone, but in modern corsetry the bones are plastic or steel. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/131 "2022-04-20T21:49:59Z")
I got one - “canvas,” as in the thing an artist paints on, is still used when referring to digital art, despite sail cloth no longer being involved. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/132 "2022-04-20T22:01:20Z")
Canvas and bone are both cool, and I don’t think I knew of either use. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/133 "2022-04-20T22:13:01Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > and I don’t think I knew of either use. I remember one instance where canvas is used for a digital object. In one of my jobs, I used to program in Delphi, and the object library for creating and designing graphics in your project had an object class called “canvas” that represented the virtual drawing area. Probably there are other languages and platforms where that’s the case too, but I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/134 "2022-04-20T22:22:21Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > In one of my jobs, I used to program in Delphi, and the object library for creating and designing graphics in your project had an object class called “canvas” that represented the virtual drawing area. Yes, that’s the standard term for that, which was what I was saying in my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/135 "2022-04-21T16:32:22Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Here’s another valid one: A [corset “bone”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_(corsetry)) was originally so called because it was made from whalebone, but in modern corsetry the bones are plastic or steel Now I’m wondering if there’s a case to be made for Bringing Some Coke To The Party. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/136 "2022-04-21T20:49:46Z")
I think “a Coke” counts, in certain dialects and in a weird way. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/137 "2022-04-21T21:50:48Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Maybe. I just don’t know golf well enough. But if folks commonly say, “Hand me a wood,” meaning something made of plastic, or “Hand me an iron,” meaning something made of aluminum, then those would count. They do. [https://www.hirekogolf.com/clubheads-material-differences](https://www.hirekogolf.com/clubheads-material-differences) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/138 "2022-04-21T21:57:44Z")
Aha. A “bristle” or filament in a brush (hairbrush, paintbrush) is called that because originally it was literally a bristle or stiff hair from an animal’s coat (e.g., boar bristle). But brush fibers are still called “bristles” even if they’re made of nylon or other synthetics. So: a nylon bristle. Oh, and of course “a cane” as in a walking stick is nowadays most often made of something other than actual cane, meaning a dried stalk of a large grass such as rattan or bamboo. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/139 "2022-04-21T22:06:49Z")
“Bristle” isn’t a material/uncountable noun in the way that “glass” is a material. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836/140 "2022-04-21T22:11:07Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > “Bristle” isn’t a material/uncountable noun in the way that “glass” is a material. I BEG your pardon: > [@](#): > > [The oval brush](https://www.hofcraft.com/bob-ross-artist-brushes-info.html) has a brass plated ferrule and easy to hold handle. Made out of pure white bristle hair. > [@](#): > > [The best dartboards](https://dartssite.com/professional-dartboards/) are made out of bristle or sisal fiber. Hmph! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-glass-an-online-paper-and-other-material-contradictions/962836.md?page=8)