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Nouns as prepositional phrases
Sep. 1st, 2018 09:51 pmEnglish is wacky.
I already knew we love to use loads of nouns (summer league frisbee, Barton Creek Square Mall, rubber baby buggy bumpers), but I just recently realized we even use them as prepositional phrases.
* plate - Can mean "with beans and rice" (such as "enchilada plate"); or it can imply two vegetable sides (such as "meatloaf plate").
* platter - Can mean "with additional sides" (such as "pancake platter").
(Note: This doesn't work with fruit. A fruit platter is bigger than a fruit plate, which is bigger than a fruit cup, but they are all just fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces. Whereas I think of a fruit bowl as being full of whole, uncut fruit.)
* basket - Can mean "with fries" (as in "corndog basket").
* meal deal (two nouns!) - Can mean "with fries and a soft drink."
* boat - Can mean both "still in the peel" and "with melted chocolate and marshmallows," but probably only in the phrase "banana boat."
(Tries to think of something else that would be good as a boat. Mango boat? Sweet potato boat?)
I already knew we love to use loads of nouns (summer league frisbee, Barton Creek Square Mall, rubber baby buggy bumpers), but I just recently realized we even use them as prepositional phrases.
* plate - Can mean "with beans and rice" (such as "enchilada plate"); or it can imply two vegetable sides (such as "meatloaf plate").
* platter - Can mean "with additional sides" (such as "pancake platter").
(Note: This doesn't work with fruit. A fruit platter is bigger than a fruit plate, which is bigger than a fruit cup, but they are all just fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces. Whereas I think of a fruit bowl as being full of whole, uncut fruit.)
* basket - Can mean "with fries" (as in "corndog basket").
* meal deal (two nouns!) - Can mean "with fries and a soft drink."
* boat - Can mean both "still in the peel" and "with melted chocolate and marshmallows," but probably only in the phrase "banana boat."
(Tries to think of something else that would be good as a boat. Mango boat? Sweet potato boat?)