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Grex > Language > #74: Language Experiment: What do you call these....? |  |
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| Author |
Message |
gregc
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Language Experiment: What do you call these....?
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Jun 18 09:56 UTC 1995 |
Here's a little cultural language experiment. I wastalking about this to
someone the other day. Go down into your basement, if your house is older
than 15 years, your basement walls are made out of large blocks mortered
together.
What do you call these blocks? And how old are you?
I've intentionally tried not to use either of the 2 most common names for
them to avoid tainting the experiment.
Please limit reponses to just answering the 2 questions. I want to see
what people think and then I'll discuss why I'm asking this in a about
a week. Thanks.
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| 84 responses total. |
jor
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response 1 of 84:
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Jun 18 10:58 UTC 1995 |
cinder blocks. what else? 41.
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mcpoz
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response 2 of 84:
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Jun 18 13:25 UTC 1995 |
I have always called them concrete blocks & I 'm over 50. I have a rental
house which we renovated and when we tore down a block wall, the blocks
felt as light as a feather compared to concrete. They were made out of
concrete and sawdust approx 1948 when materials were hard to get ahold of.
These blocks were not deteriorated - looked as good as any I have seen.
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janc
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response 3 of 84:
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Jun 18 14:38 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks - 36
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remmers
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response 4 of 84:
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Jun 18 15:11 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks. 53.
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steve
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response 5 of 84:
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Jun 18 15:55 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks. 38.
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fitz
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response 6 of 84:
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Jun 18 16:21 UTC 1995 |
concrete blocks
45
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omni
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response 7 of 84:
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Jun 18 16:21 UTC 1995 |
Cinder Blocks. 34
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popcorn
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response 8 of 84:
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Jun 18 16:23 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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gal
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response 9 of 84:
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Jun 18 16:41 UTC 1995 |
concrete blocks. 42.
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mju
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response 10 of 84:
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Jun 18 18:38 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks. 19.
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scg
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response 11 of 84:
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Jun 18 20:06 UTC 1995 |
Stones. I'm 18, and my house is 97 years old. I call the things used in more
modern houses cinder blocks.
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ajax
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response 12 of 84:
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Jun 18 20:33 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks. 28.
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otterwmn
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response 13 of 84:
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Jun 18 20:55 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks...34
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helmke
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response 14 of 84:
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Jun 18 21:24 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks, 29. Although I am sufficiently aware of concrete blocks to
not have any trouble understanding if somebody mentions concrete blocks.
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danr
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response 15 of 84:
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Jun 18 23:42 UTC 1995 |
cinder blocks. 40.
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janc
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response 16 of 84:
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Jun 19 01:35 UTC 1995 |
So is the rule that people aged 42 or more call them concrete?
I've always wanted to collect together enough of these things so that by
asking people a set of questions you could determine the their age.
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glenda
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response 17 of 84:
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Jun 19 01:49 UTC 1995 |
I have refered to them both as cinder blocks and concrete blocks at different
times. 43
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gregc
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response 18 of 84:
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Jun 19 02:15 UTC 1995 |
Glenda, which one would you more likely use first off, without thinking
about it?
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jor
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response 19 of 84:
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Jun 19 03:11 UTC 1995 |
So now we become curious, re., derivation of 'cinder block.'
cinder, n., ME sinder, OE/OHG sintar, OSlav (!) sedra (stalactite)
partly burned coal, slag from metal furnace, lava
cinder block, n.,
a hollow rectangular building block made with cement and coal cinders
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gregc
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response 20 of 84:
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Jun 19 03:19 UTC 1995 |
Interesting, what dictionary did you look up "cinder block" in? It's not
a word, it's 2 words, or a phrase. The 3 dictionarys I looked in didn't list
it.
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glenda
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response 21 of 84:
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Jun 19 12:25 UTC 1995 |
Cinder block, mostly.
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bruin
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response 22 of 84:
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Jun 19 12:33 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks. It's been 15 years since my 29th birthday.
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zook
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response 23 of 84:
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Jun 19 14:33 UTC 1995 |
Cinder block. 29.
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dam
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response 24 of 84:
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Jun 19 16:29 UTC 1995 |
Cinder blocks, 25.
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