Sunday, April 4, 2010

The last of the word surveys

Ok, I'm going to stop doing this soon, because it is sort of addictive and I fear this becoming the Weird Word Variations blog. But y'all are very interesting, you know, and I keep coming up with new things I want to ask.

These are the results of the last round of questions, posted here. You should really go to that link and read all the crazy comments, because I wasn't able to adequately quantify the discussion, nor most of the bonus questions. But here's the gist of it:

1) What do you call the evening meal? The midday meal? Does that ever change? For what reason?
People mainly only answered the first part of the question, so I'll just post stats for that: 2 said dinner, two said supper, 4 said either of the above, and 1 said tea (yay, uniqueness!)

2) What do you call the garment you wear between the shower and getting dressed?
3 people call it a housecoat, 4 say bathrobe, 1 says dressing gown, and 1 declines to answer.

3) What do you call knocking on the door then running away (as a joke, not a failure of nerve)? This is interesting, because I hadn't heard of this (at least, not as a defined concept deserving of a name) but only one other person said the same. 1 said knock-a-door-run, 4 said Nicky-Nicky-Nine-Doors, 2 said Knock-Knock-Ginger (which is also a pretty good band), and 1 said knock-door-run-fast, which sounds more like instructions than anything.

4) What do you call catching a ride while on roller skates/blades by hanging onto the back of someone's car/truck? 2 said bumper-hitching, 1 said skitching, 1 car-surfing and 4, including me, were baffled and terrified and didn't know this was a concept.

And the final set of questions--there weren't going to be anymore, but then I had a bunch more weird conversations (such is my life), inspiring these:

1) What is the piece of furniture you put your folded-up clothes into?
2) What did you call the badass kids at your high school that just hung out smoking all day and never seemed to go inside the school? (some might construe the answers to this question as offensive--feel free to say "what other people called them/us is...")
3) And a reversed question: how do you define the word "single" as related to romantic relationships (as opposed to ice-cream cones or whathaveyou)? I am not talking about weird-tension, when-should-we-change-our-Facebook-status question, but an actual black-and-white definition. I always thought there was only one, but apparently there's at least two!

Good night, weird lovelies!
RR

9 comments:

Mark Sampson said...

1. Dresser.
2. Slackers
3. Without a boy/girlfriend. Not to be confused with "unmarried".

Andrew S said...

1. Dresser
2. I actually don't know.
3. Not "in a relationship."

Anonymous said...

1. tall = dresser
short and fat = chest of drawers
2. kids in the smoke pit
3. single? doesn't have a sweetheart? not inclined after others?

Gillian

Katherine said...

1.) Chest of drawers or dresser. Usually my concept of "dresser" includes area on the top for stuff.

2.) Stoner?

3.) Single: Not in any sort of romantic relationship.

August said...

1) Dresser

2) We didn't have a name for them

3) "single" people are people who are either involved in no on-going romantic entanglements at all (so one-off hook ups don't count), OR, are only involved in on-going romantic entanglements in which every other person involved is free to see other people, and more importantly, *knows* they are free to see other people, *and is happy with that arrangement*. If the other folks involved are not in the know, or are not/would not be okay with that arrangement, you aren't single, you're just a jerk.

August said...

Addendum: For number three, in case of ongoing romantic entanglements, there is also the proviso that all parties must be free to sever ongoing romantic relationships with no ill will or to pursue a permanent, exclusive bond with anyone they choose at any point, so as to distinguish them from, say, an open relationship with one particular partner where severing or diminishing a particular bond is not an option without hard feelings, fighting, etc.

Andrew S said...

August, no having number 3 drafted by your lawyer. ;)

August said...

Number 3 has come from dating folks who have a history of unconventional relationship styles, and trying to find ways to reconcile my desire for traditional exclusivity and their desire for more openness, with *staying together* being the goal.

I was even once heard to utter, during the rather trying dissolution of a long-distance relationship I was extremely invested in, a more tactful variation of "fuck who you want, we'll sort it out when you get home."

Using hyperspecific language has kept me sane more than once when trying to manage relationships with volatile young ladies.

August said...

Sorry about the cussing. I don't even realize I'm doing it sometimes.