# Prisoner vs. Jailer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444 "2008-08-01T01:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/1 "2008-08-01T01:42:38Z")
Okay, why is a _prisoner_ someone who is kept confined in a prison, while a _jailer_ is someone who keeps someone else confined in a jail? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/2 "2008-08-01T01:45:11Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Okay, why is a _prisoner_ someone who is kept confined in a prison, while a _jailer_ is someone who keeps someone else confined in a jail? 😕 [/QUOTE] Is the prison on the parkway and the jail on the driveway? 😃 (please don’t hit me) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/3 "2008-08-01T01:53:18Z")
Kind of related . . . A few months ago I started idly musing about nouns ending in -er that have a root related to their meaning, but do not actually do the thing being described. Examples: planter: you put plants in it, but it doesn’t plant things dresser: you get dressed with the things it holds, but it doesn’t dress you romper: an outfit a child can romp in I’m sure I had other examples, but they’ve gone bye-bye. I don’t think “sweater” quite works, but maybe. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/4 "2008-08-01T02:03:23Z")
I agree. Let’s call a ward of the state a warden. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/5 "2008-08-01T02:17:49Z")
If instructors instruct, why don’t doctors doct? If a fortification is a large fort, is a ratification a large rat? English is stupid. Deal with it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/6 "2008-08-01T02:28:12Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Okay, why is a _prisoner_ someone who is kept confined in a prison, while a _jailer_ is someone who keeps someone else confined in a jail? 😕 [/QUOTE] If you don’t know, who would? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/7 "2008-08-01T02:32:22Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] Kind of related . . . dresser: you get dressed with the things it holds, but it doesn’t dress you … Any others? [/QUOTE] There are dressers who dress people, and theater sets too. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/8 "2008-08-01T02:34:16Z")
And planters who plant, though I believe you need to have a white Panama hat to be so designated. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/9 "2008-08-01T02:34:21Z")
If you call your fraternity a frat, then why don’t you call your country fratland? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/10 "2008-08-01T02:34:26Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Okay, why is a _prisoner_ someone who is kept confined in a prison, while a _jailer_ is someone who keeps someone else confined in a jail? 😕 [/QUOTE] I’ll bite. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/11 "2008-08-01T02:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] If you call your fraternity a frat, then why don’t you call your country fratland? [/QUOTE] I always heard this as “don’t call my fraternity a frat! Would you call your country a c\*\*t??” Well, no, I wouldn’t… but fraternity to frat is 4 syllables to only 1 (pretty good in terms of less effort required), whereas country to c\*\*t is 2 to 1; and that 1 is a fairly offensive expletive. Dumb-ass. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/12 "2008-08-01T02:50:13Z")
There really should be a word _prisonies_. These are people who marry prisoners, derived from groupies. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/13 "2008-08-01T03:07:19Z")
Re dressers and planters: Yes, I know that, but I’m interested in the other phenomenon: when a word of the form “verb-er” is NOT something that verbs (but is related to the verb; thus, things like “jumper” [for the garment] don’t count). ---
**Author:** ![Sanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanders)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/14 "2008-08-01T04:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Okay, why is a _prisoner_ someone who is kept confined in a prison, while a _jailer_ is someone who keeps someone else confined in a jail? 😕 [/QUOTE] According to the OED: **prisoner** (1). Obs. exc. dial. [f. prison n. or v. + -er1: cf. jail-er; also med.L. præsonerius (1285 in Const. K. James of Sicily, Du Cange), and Anglo-L. prisonator (c 1290 in Fleta i. xx. §9).] **The keeper of a prison; a jailer.** c1250 Gen. & Ex. 2042 So gan him [iosep] luuen ðe prisuner, And him ðe chartre haueð bi-ta\_t, Wið ðo prisunes to liuen in ha\_t. [Still sometimes so used dialectally. It was familiar to me in childhood. J.A.H.M.] The first recorded use of ‘prisoner’ to mean the person on the inside is from the 1300’s: ‘Thy presoners let me see!’ So it wasn’t always that way! Looks like jailer always meant jail-keeper, though. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/15 "2008-08-01T06:08:57Z")
_Scarlet67_ mentioned a romper: an outfit a child can romp in. What about the old Romper Room? Does anyone else remember this old show? Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/16 "2008-08-01T06:23:20Z")
[There’s this.](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-er) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/17 "2008-08-01T06:24:26Z")
Yes, I remember Romper Room. Do bees and don’t bees. In Fort Worth, we had a local unaffiliated station that showed Iggy Twerp’s show, which was produced locally. He relied heavily on Three Stooges reruns, and therefore held a dear place in my father’s heart. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/18 "2008-08-01T13:51:42Z")
Back a couple of centuries ago, awesome and awful meant the same thing. Also, which is worse: when your house burns down or when your house burns up? ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/19 "2008-08-01T14:38:44Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] planter: you put plants in it, but it doesn’t plant things dresser: you get dressed with the things it holds, but it doesn’t dress you romper: an outfit a child can romp in [/QUOTE] I thought “planter” was actually short for “planter’s box”. And a “dresser” also refers to a person who dresses you. When I was set-building, there was a bunch of them for something they were filming that had monsters (to this day I have no idea what shoot they were working on, but they had really cool stilts and stuff). The wardrobe department had a team of dressers because all the monsters needed help getting their monster outfits on and some of them looked like it took awhile. They weren’t “costumers”, they were just stagehands who were on site to help the monsters get dressed. The costumer was the one bossing them all around. So if I was in the hospital, how come I’m not a hospitaler? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444/20 "2008-08-01T14:45:36Z")
What, exactly, does a teller tell? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-vs-jailer/458444.md?page=2)