# understanding a word **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182 "2017-04-10T17:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bladerunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@bladerunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bladerunner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/1 "2017-04-10T17:05:27Z")
how do you explain to kids the word chop. yes i know fast strokes with a ax or knife…like cutting down a tree. but they want to know when chop is used only as cut…like will you help me chop an onion,not as chop in pieces. or say chop down the tree and cut off its branch …why is it also cut down a tree and chop off its branch. I guess they are asking me when does chop become cut or cut becomes chop. (how to determine which to use). I am lost for words on how to express this answer, any thoughts from you guys? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/2 "2017-04-10T17:10:36Z")
I would explain to them that a “chop” is a _specific type_ of “cut.” So every chop is a cut, but every cut is not a chop. Maybe explain the idea of subcategories. Like, every canoe is a boat, but every boat is not a canoe. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/3 "2017-04-10T17:10:54Z")
Any reason you can’t just look up the word in a dictionary? Dictionaries are pretty good at defining words. That will also teach them how to find the meaning of other words they encounter in the future. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/4 "2017-04-10T17:15:03Z")
You have to talk about how the same word can be used in many different ways, depending on context. After all you can also have a pork chop. (I guess that it is “chopped” from the joint) In essence, “chop” implies cutting with an axe-like blow. Only implies, because you don’t ‘chop’ onions like you ‘chop’ a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/5 "2017-04-10T17:18:24Z")
You could introduce the more general concept of _phrasal verbs_. See here for example, > **[Phrasal Verbs in English - Summary](https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/phrasal_verbs.htm)** > > How to use Phrasal Verbs in English Grammar - Examples and Explanation > **[Phrasal Verbs List | Vocabulary | EnglishClub](https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.php)** > > 200 English phrasal verbs with meanings and example sentences - to help you learn this important part of speech. View online or print on paper. The fun thing with chop is that first you chop a tree _down_, then you chop it _up_. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/6 "2017-04-10T17:26:12Z")
It’s important to accept that in English (and probably in many languages) a word can have many meanings. They tend to be related, though by no means always or closely. Common example are the words ‘set’ and ‘run’ - the number of distinct definitions recognized for each runs into the hundreds. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/7 "2017-04-10T17:43:11Z")
Chop generally means using the momentum of the blow to create a cut. you chop an onion like a pro chef does, chop-chop-chop-chop-chop with the knife, trying not to take of your fingertips. Fortunately, the momentum of the blade takes it all the way through the onion, as would a heavy blade through someone’s neck or arm (cf. opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Axe in wood (or, in the case of Mary Queen of Scots’ neck) it takes multiple blows to work your way through. Wood is a special case, we use progressive chops to cut out progressively larger slices to enlarge the hole. But each blow is a chop. You might also slice the onion, using a sawing motion or maybe just pressure to push a cut through the doomed veggie rather than a fast swing downward. Some chefs like slicing food by keeping the point of the blade on the cutting board and simply rotating the blade downward. I don’t consider this a real chop. It’s a slice. (Words have double meanings - slice also implies making a cut to shear off a thin piece from a larger chunk of whatever.) you also see the double meaning in “karate chop” - use the hand and arm momentum in a chopping motion, but with no expectation that it will go through flesh (or, not very far) whereas a karate chop can go through a board or brick; but by breaking it rather than by blade penetrating. ---
**Author:** ![bladerunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@bladerunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bladerunner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/8 "2017-04-10T19:30:38Z")
i have tried different approaches. some dont get it… they want a hard rule when to use cut or when to use chop. when does one apply over the other…this is what it amounts to.( sigh) i even used a rose is a flower way to …still no luck ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/9 "2017-04-10T20:20:55Z")
We don’t chop Harley’s anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/10 "2017-04-10T20:25:43Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > We don’t chop Harley’s anymore? All the cool kids rode Raleigh Choppers (usually orange) when I was growing up in London. [![](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/cwen13/orange-raleigh-chopper-bicycle-parked-on-stone-flagged-pavement-outside-cwen13.jpg) ](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/cwen13/orange-raleigh-chopper-bicycle-parked-on-stone-flagged-pavement-outside-cwen13.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/11 "2017-04-10T20:39:30Z")
You want to tell them the truth? Tell them that language and word usage is the most democratic aspect of being a human being. A word means whatever most people think it means, no matter what a dictionary might say. And “correct usage” is the same. The only thing that matters, is what whoever you are talking or writing TO, wants you to do. If your English teacher wants you to say CHOP for wood, and CUT for sausage, you will use them as directed. But when you leave the classroom and go to the market, and the Butcher says he can CHOP up some sausage for you, if you tell him he has to CUT it for you instead, you might not get any sausage. Here where I live, people leave infinitives out of sentences all the time, and I get snorted at when I speak “correctly.” They will say " My printer is broken. It needs fixed." I will say “your printer needs to be fixed,” and they will squint at me briefly, perhaps suggest that I’m a Yankee invader, and then go back to saying that it needs fixed. Dictionaries are good and useful, but they aren’t authorities. They are compilations of known word usages and spellings. As the word usages change, the dictionaries add more numbers of definitions. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/12 "2017-04-10T21:16:16Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > The only thing that matters, is what whoever you are talking or writing TO, wants you to do. In the situation described by the OP (explaining a word’s meaning to a child) this isn’t very helpful. “Chop means whatever the person you’re talking to wants it to mean” is likely to get the response “Okay - so what does she want it to mean?” English (fortunately) is a bit more precise than that. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/13 "2017-04-10T21:52:25Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > You want to tell them the truth? Tell them that language and word usage is the most democratic aspect of being a human being. > > A word means whatever most people think it means, no matter what a dictionary might say… > [@Xema](#): > > In the situation described by the OP (explaining a word’s meaning to a child) this isn’t very helpful. > > “Chop means whatever the person you’re talking to wants it to mean” is likely to get the response “Okay - so what does she want it to mean?” > > English (fortunately) is a bit more precise than that. Yes, although language is democratic, the spontaneous consensus-building among communities that share a dialect usually leads to rather strict constraints on usage in that dialect. That’s why we can (with rare talented exceptions) discern almost instantly whether someone is a native speaker of our own dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/14 "2017-04-10T22:02:16Z")
> [@bladerunner](#): > > i have tried different approaches. some dont get it… they want a hard rule when to use cut or when to use chop. when does one apply over the other…this is what it amounts to. How old are these kids? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/15 "2017-04-10T22:49:54Z")
And is English their first language? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/16 "2017-04-11T00:09:05Z")
And are you secretly training them to be axe-murderers? ---
**Author:** ![bladerunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@bladerunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bladerunner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/17 "2017-04-11T00:11:10Z")
ages vary from 8\_10. …they know English very well. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/18 "2017-04-11T01:47:02Z")
Perhaps they’re at an age where they’re really interested in knowing rules and formulas to eliminate ambiguity and uncertainty. Nevertheless, there are many elements of language that are learned through immersion and exposure, to where native speakers know how to use a word without really thinking about it. I’d wager most of us use “chop” or “cut” correctly (i.e., in a way that doesn’t perplex or jar anybody) without having studied the difference between them. It’s good that they’re curious about this and seeking to understand. Still, it’s possible that there’s just not much more you can teach them at this point. They may have to accept, consciously or unconsciously, that not everything can be neatly laid out in an instantly understandable fashion. I’m sure they’ll learn when to use one word instead of the other, but it may from further experience and hearing them in used context rather than from having some simple guideline. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/19 "2017-04-11T10:13:13Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You have to talk about how the same word can be used in many different ways, depending on context. After all you can also have a pork chop. (I guess that it is “chopped” from the joint) > > In essence, “chop” implies cutting with an axe-like blow. Only implies, because you don’t ‘chop’ onions like you ‘chop’ a tree. I think if it were to be defined formally, it would mean: to cut in such a way that the blade moves straight through the item to be cut - i.e. not using a sawing or slicing action, but that’s problematic, because ‘slicing’ refers to the end result (slices of something) more than the action that produces it. ‘Chop’ means To cut with an axe-like blow (trees are chopped down with an axe - pork is ‘chopped’ with a cleaver) To cut by pressing a blade through a material To cut across the long axis of a material (e.g. with a chop saw) Any other kind of cutting ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182/20 "2017-04-11T11:16:34Z")
Explain mince and dice. Once they have those down, move on to chop. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-a-word/784182.md?page=2)