# What man-made objects are referred to by the material they are made of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881 "2005-04-05T18:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/21 "2005-04-05T20:01:53Z")
China (ceramics), if that counts. I believe dice used to be made of bone and were called bones. Flint (sparker in a lighter) In many other languages, the word for a cigarette is tobacco. ‘Threads’ used to be (is?) slang for clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/22 "2005-04-05T20:33:26Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Nickels, by the way, are no longer made of that metal. Really? I thought U.S. nickels have always (WWII excepted) been 75% copper, 25% nickel. Has this changed recently? Zinc sacrificial anodes on seagoing boats are often called “zincs.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/23 "2005-04-05T20:35:01Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Fishsticks? It is a fungus. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/24 "2005-04-05T20:36:09Z")
> [@Scarface Z](#): > > I’m pretty sure I’ve heard chalkboards referred to as slates. Good one. The sheets of slate permanently installed in a classroom were in my experience “blackboards” or, as you suggest, “chalkboards”; a _slate_ was a small flat piece of slate, approximately 9"x12" in a wooden frame, portable and capable of being held in the hands, resting on a desk, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/25 "2005-04-05T20:40:29Z")
Pssst. Rubber IS latex – pass it on. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/26 "2005-04-05T20:43:51Z")
at the edge, but I think inside the definition, is ‘andiron’ ‘silver’ can also refer to coinage in general (as opposed to ‘paper’, so there’s another one, though you have to have the money context for that) ---
**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:** [April 5, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/27 "2005-04-05T21:14:15Z")
So here is what we have so far, removing those that I don’t think quite fit or are unusual nicknames or aren’t really manmade: iron (1): for removing wrinkles from clothes iron (2): a golf club glass: for drinking glasses: for vision correction steel: for knife sharpening straw: drinking liquids (now obsolete) cloth: any object made of cloth clothes: clothing made of cloth silver: coins (the) silver: tableware flint: for striking sparks marbles: children’s toy (now obsolete) quill: a pen made from a quill rubber(1): a condom rubber(2): an eraser for pencils (or was this the other way around?) rubbers: rain boots plastic: credit cards wood: a golf club vinyl: a record nickel: 5 cents nylons: stockings paper: a report, or a newspaper cork: a bottle stopper eiderdown: a feather quilt linens: bed or table cloths (the) soap: a bar of soap stone: a gravestone silks(1): jockey uniforms silks(2): dainty unmentionables leathers: protective leather clothing carbon: carbon paper copy (now obsolete) tin: a can sealed with tin (now obsolete) slate: a portable chalkboard canvas: a painting on canvas threads: slang for clothing zincs: maritime anodes andiron: a fireplace log support copper: a copper penny (now obsolete) bronze: a statue or artwork made of bronze Any more? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/28 "2005-04-05T21:26:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Any more? What’s your opinion on \*brick \* and _Plastique_? ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/29 "2005-04-05T21:44:53Z")
Lead, in four ways: sinkers used in fishing, pencil innards (although usually made from carbon), window frames, and a thin line in typesetting. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/30 "2005-04-05T21:45:54Z")
Oh, and isn’t “copper” an old Brit word for a penny? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/31 "2005-04-05T21:46:07Z")
I suppose a case could be made for brick, but the problem is that “brick” and “plastic” are words that go back and forth between being a material and being a property of a material. Plastic originally meant moldable, and it was applied to new industrial polymers because they were moldable. But nowadays plastic refers more to the material, although we have plastic surgery and such. So plastic to refer to credit cards makes sense. But I’m unsure of the etymology of plastique. I believe the name refers to the moldable quality of the explosive, not that it is made of what we normally think of as “plastic”. And brick. Well, you can have a brick of chocolate, a brick of compressed camel dung, a brick of ink…or, yes, a brick of, well, brick. So…you’ve talked me in to brick, although I think the word orignially refered to the lumps, then got applied to the material the lumps were made of, then back to lumps made of the material. Tricky, that. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/32 "2005-04-05T21:48:55Z")
Oh, drat, I missed “copper” in the list. Sorry. What about “crystal,” as in a watch crystal? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/33 "2005-04-05T22:00:49Z")
> [@OxyMoron](#): > > Lead, in four ways: sinkers used in fishing, pencil innards (although usually made from carbon), window frames, and a thin line in typesetting. And by way of Latin, pipes. Lead=plumbum, so pipes made of lead were called plumbing by the Romans. But this doesn’t quite count since it is another double-reverse trick shot. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/34 "2005-04-05T22:01:43Z")
Another thought: Chewing gum. (Chiclets are a close call, but I assume you don’t want to get into trade names…) ---
**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 5, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/35 "2005-04-05T22:15:08Z")
‘copper’ is also a term for various large traditional pans (made of copper) for boiling water, making beer mash etc. Horse brasses are ornamental brass buckles that are found on shire horse harnesses ‘timbers’ - bit of a difficult one to call this, but stay with me… ‘roof timbers’ - OK, at first glance, maybe they are just called that because they are timber, and nothing more, but hang on; I think the term almost has a life of its own, for example, if the framework of a roof was made from, say, fibreglass, I could well imagine someone describing them as ‘synthetic timbers’. Or maybe not. ---
**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 5, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/36 "2005-04-05T22:25:36Z")
I think perhaps a useful distinction would be whether the term will continue in use if the original material of manufacture is substituted; for example: Bikers’ protective clothing will continue to be called ‘leathers’ even if it becomes most commonly manufactured of synthetics. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/37 "2005-04-05T22:59:34Z")
How 'bout resin - the kind used on the bow of a string instrument? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/38 "2005-04-05T23:03:23Z")
> [@Omphaloskeptic](#): > > Really? I thought U.S. nickels have always (WWII excepted) been 75% copper, 25% nickel. Has this changed recently? What I could find: “Nickels are made out of a nickel/copper alloy (a mixture of metals), 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. Nickels have a smooth edge; the nickel is 21.21 mm in diameter and is 1.95 mm thick.” Interestingly, “Five-cent coins minted from 1942 to 1945 aren’t nickels… Why? Because they don’t have any nickel in them! During that time, the U.S. Mint used a special wartime alloy instead—copper (56%), silver (35%), and manganese (9%). That way all the saved nickel could be used in the war effort.” ---
**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:** [April 5, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/39 "2005-04-05T23:12:41Z")
I like the idea that the term is really entrenched when the item still has the material name but is no longer made of that material. So we have plastic drinking glasses, polycarbonate vision-correcting glasses, plastic straws, stainless steel silverware, stainless steel tins, electronic papers, and cotton/polyester blend bed linens. Oh, I thought of another one for glass. Although archaic, glass can mean a mirror, a looking-glass. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881/40 "2005-04-05T23:23:25Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Don’t motorcyclists still wear leathers? They do. And they don’t refer to the synthetic stuff as “leathers” - actually, there’s rather little synthetic material that’s suited for the purpose. Pretty much any woven material other than Kevlar disintegrates after sliding about six inches along the pavement. “Brasses” is also a term used in cabinetry for the metal bits - drawer pulls, keyhole trim, etc. Timber - anyone who’s watched “In a Fix” or “Clean Sweep” has heard them refer to pretty much any dimensional lumber as “timba” Reeds - as found in woodwind instruments used to be procured by slogging through the swamp and selecting reeds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-man-made-objects-are-referred-to-by-the-material-they-are-made-of/297881.md?page=3)