# Different things that have the same name (where you live) and nobody gets confused **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739 "2021-01-17T16:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/141 "2021-01-21T00:03:47Z")
I saw “belligerent” as another meaning. And of course there’s also “shop where chips are sold” I think we have a contender in the “most disparate meanings for one word” stakes ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/142 "2021-01-21T00:11:08Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > “Arabic does not have a collective noun for camel. There exist separate words for male camel, female camel, castrated camel, young camel, old camel, …” I don’t think that’s right. The general Arabic word for “camel” is “jamal”, which in the Egyptian dialect is pronounced more like “gamal” with a hard “g”, from which English gets the word camel. Arabic does have a lot of more specific words for specific categories of camel, just as English does for horses (stallion, mare, colt, nag, etc.). It may well be that a native Arabic-speaker who is a “camel person” would pretty much always use more specific terms, but all of my native Arabic speaking instructors just said “jamal” and didn’t bother with any other more specific terms. ETA: “jamal” _can_ mean specifically a male camel, but it’s also used by at least some native speakers as the generic collective noun. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/143 "2021-01-21T06:35:44Z")
Oh, sure, I agree it’s a legit name. Might be the tool with the most, actually. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/144 "2021-01-21T06:40:13Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I see “chippies” is a cute slang term of choice too. It isn’t really, that’s more-or-less confined to that ad series and 3-yo kids. A chippy is a fish-and-chips shop - or possibly a bimbo, but not, here, a carpenter. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2021, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/145 "2021-01-21T08:39:57Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@Mangetout](#): > > > > Lemonade made from fresh lemons, sugar and water isn’t really a thing here in the UK > > Isn’t that a prime business opportunity? Fresh lemonade is one of the greatest things ever, especially on a hot summer day. I would think someone could make a killing on it by introducing it to the British. Hot summer days aren’t really a thing here, either. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/146 "2021-01-21T19:03:42Z")
The Americans around me all operate on the “they’re all spatulas” system, which drives me slightly nuts. In Norwegian one is, etymologically speaking, a “pot licker” and the other is a “frying spade”. And of course while thinking of this post I had a terrifying five minutes being unable to recall one of these words. I need this pandemic to end so I can go back for a visit! ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/147 "2021-01-21T19:39:36Z")
> [@naita](#): > > The Americans around me all operate on the “they’re all spatulas” system “All Spatulas Matter” is us. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/148 "2021-01-21T20:05:53Z")
Not “things” but if I say I’m going to run to the store I usually mean I’m going to drive. If I’m playing basketball and say I’m going to drive I usually mean I’m going to run. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/149 "2021-01-21T20:42:01Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I saw “belligerent” as another meaning. You hear this use a lot during sports broadcasts, NFL in particular. Often, it’s when one team has a large lead over the other with little hope for the losing side. The hits get a little harder, the post-play words get a little stronger, tempers get a little shorter. It doesn’t rise to penalties or fighting. “It’s getting chippy out there.” ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/150 "2021-01-21T21:10:06Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > A “trunk” can be a storage compartment in an automobile or a large piece of luggage. And yet it’s rarely confusing when someone says “That item is in the trunk”. And the interesting thing is that trunks are called trunks because they started out as an actual trunk strapped to the back of the vehicle. Boot originates from horse drawn carriages, which I didn’t know until I [looked it up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunk_(car)#:~:text=The%20usage%20of%20the%20word,in%20compartment%20on%20a%20horse%2D). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/151 "2021-01-21T23:00:19Z")
Over here “chippy”, when used to describe someone - “He’s a bit chippy.” - means over-sensitive, as in someone with a chip on their shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/152 "2021-01-22T03:04:28Z")
> [@naita](#): > > In Norwegian one is, etymologically speaking, a “pot licker” and the other is a “frying spade”. I love this. In many Spanish dialects, such as the Castilian Spanish taught in schools, a “torta” is a cake. However, in Mexican Spanish, the kind you’re most likely to encounter in a restaurant in California, a torta is a particular kind of sandwich. Getting back to English, what about nails? The kind on your fingertips vs. the kind you pound with a hammer. Actually I suppose you could whack either one with a hammer, and many do, just not usually on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/153 "2021-01-22T04:46:23Z")
Where I live this is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/dk15tFyHU3f2jfFWA). And _this_ is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/fjZa5vPQ7NA7e2cs8). And **this** this is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/XpxtGDNJeJbuEr616). All without any modifier 90% of the time. I cannot recall even once being confused as to which someone meant, let alone guessing incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/154 "2021-01-22T04:56:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > They are both beans because they are the same plant. A green bean is literally a green (young or immature) bean. If you let it mature, it takes the other form. So it is actually, literally the same vegetable, and “not a different animal altogether.” _Shakes head_ There are an absolutely ludicrous number of different varietals of pea, and of bean, and they are each rather different from the others. Green beans alone may be Kentucky Wonders or Tennessee Flats, the former being a pole bean and the latter being a bunch bean. Of the bigger kind of which you don’t normally eat their shell casing, you’ve got your pinto and your black, your kidney and your navy, and many many more, including lima beans and butter beans. And while it is true that if you let a Kentucky Wonder stay on the climbing vine long enough, the outer shellhusk will get coarser and the beans inside get bigger, it is _not_ true that you’re ever likely to find huge honking Kentucky Wonders being sold as if they were lima beans or kidney beans. It’s not what they’re grown for. And vice versa. Don’t even get me started on peas. I could list a dozen or so without even mentioning the silly little green English pea that graces the jolly Green Giant can. Snap peas and crowder peas and sugar peas and purple-hull peas and blackeyed peas and speckled peas and so on and so forth. Know thy legumes. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/155 "2021-01-22T05:43:49Z")
Ummm… Has anyone realized yet that this is so common in English that we have the word “homonym” to describe the phenomenon? > **[Which English Word Has the Most Definitions?](https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/which-word-has-the-most-definitions-4077796)** > > What word has the most definitions in the English language? This trivia question has multiple answers. Check the citing authority to get it right. > **[15 English Vocabulary Words with Multiple Meanings](https://www.espressoenglish.net/15-english-vocabulary-words-with-multiple-meanings/)** > > A number of English words are spelled the same way and pronounced the same way, but have different meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/156 "2021-01-22T10:25:43Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Shakes head I don’t know why you included that because I knew all that and moments of its contradicts what I said. A green bean is called a “green bean” because it is literally a “green” “bean.” And a green string bean and a black bean, as mentioned above, are both from cultivars of the same species of plant. So they are not “a different animal altogether.” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/157 "2021-01-22T12:25:28Z")
What we are talking about is restricted than than just homonyms - there are many , many words that are homonyms and can’t be described as “different things that have the same name”. For example “season” meaning the time of the year might be described as a “thing” but “season” meaning to apply seasonings to a food clearly isn’t a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/158 "2021-01-22T13:27:29Z")
Where I live Coke can mean either a soft drink of any brand or the specific product. A conversation could be; What do you want to drink? I’d like a Coke. (meaning a soft drink) Okay, do you want Coke or Mountain Dew? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/159 "2021-01-22T13:50:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Though we also use “pavers” as a noun meaning flat masonry or concrete bricks intended to be set into the ground forming a solid surface tiling the plane. And a lot of times those pavers are called cobblestones even though they are not at all. Cobblestones are large rounded river pebbles. Pavers are cut or molded blocks with flat sides. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/160 "2021-01-22T18:22:16Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Where I live this is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/dk15tFyHU3f2jfFWA). And _this_ is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/fjZa5vPQ7NA7e2cs8). And **this** this is a [carriage](https://images.app.goo.gl/XpxtGDNJeJbuEr616). Around here #1 and #3 are carriages, but #2 is a shopping cart. And a less fancy #3 would probably be called a buggy; while #1 is commonly specified as ‘baby carriage’. – What if spelled out in full is a “caterpillar tractor” is commonly just called a “cat”. I’ve occasionally been momentarily taken aback by a sentence before I figured out that was the kind of cat being talked about; but in general the context makes it quite clear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739.md?page=9)