Not Quite Synonyms

[livingdeb]

Sometimes we have different words for the same thing based on whether the living creature is still using it or whether people are using it. For example:
* pig vs. pork
* cow vs. beef
* skin vs. leather

But not everything like this gets two words. For example:
* chicken
* fish (and other seafoods)
* fur

Interestingly, this phenomenon also exists in Spanish, but not for the same concepts. Here are some concepts for which they have different words:
* vaca vs. carne (del rez) (cow vs. meat/beef)
* pez vs. pescado (literally fish vs. fished - live fish versus fish for food)

And here's where it seems like they don't have two words:
* pollo (chicken)
* cerdo (pig/pork)

And I just learned two words for leather: cuero (leather) and piel (skin).

On a similar note, I've noticed that people in the US who are from Iran like to refer to themselves as Persians. If they have a restaurant with Iranian food, it is called Persian. Yea for American ignorance keeping them safe!

Craft blog entry of the day

Especially for Texpenguin, I recommend Miser Mom's Well, now I can cross "make penguins" off my to-do list. But it's fun to read even if you don't do crafts and don't love penguins (or canning jars). "Some animals look cute with really big eyes. I pulled out my button stash to do some experimenting, and I decided the large buttons would make my penguins look stoned. So I chose small black buttons for eyes instead."

Illustrated blog entry of the day

You know how little babies are always making hilarious faces at random? Well, Miser Mom has captured a bunch of these faces on her new granddaughter and used them to illustrate her guide to throwing a good party, Ocho de Mayo. "Then we sit down to lots of yummy food: rice, hamburger and beans, cheese, lettuce, bananas, and salsa. How was that salsa, Baby A? [illustration speaks for itself, but is captioned anyway for extra fun] 'Yoicks! Hot! But good!'" [Don't worry--no one fed the tiny new being salsa; she was just the illustrator.]

Comments

[texpenguin.livejournal.com]

The penguin bags are super-cute! Thanks for the shout out!

[texpenguin.livejournal.com]

Though I am a bit curious about this person who has vast quantities of faux fur just lying around--just what kind of business was she in, anyway? ;-)

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

She is a math professor. As you know, professors are always getting apples and, uh, well maybe not!