| Author |
Message |
Robert Bannister
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 7:09 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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Michael West wrote:
| Quote: | Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
David wrote:
In article <2knhq0F4bkc2U1@uni-berlin.de>, Einde O'Callaghan
einde.ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
David wrote:
You think I'm expecting too much intelligence in the subscribers to
these newsgroups?
No - just a bit of courtesy - a quote of the relevant passage in the
book might be appropriate.
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in the
rain-darkened room. For a minute she stood looking at it. Then she
filled the powder container and switched on the machine." Bottom of the
antepenultimate page of cap. 5.
I would probably call this surface a "worktop" but I have come across
counters in combined kitchen-dining rooms where the kitchen part is
separated from the dining room by what I would call a counter on which
dishes can be placed as they are being passed from the cooker to teh
dining table or at which one can eqat breakfast perched on a stool.
Here in underpondia I think "bench" and "benchtop" would be
the most common terms, though "counter" and "countertop" are
gaining ground.
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My feeling is that 'counter' has been pushed by real estate agents who
have invented or popularised a lot of fancy words over the years.
--
Rob Bannister
W Australia
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 8:07 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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Robert Bannister wrote:
| Quote: | Michael West wrote:
Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
David wrote:
Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
David wrote:
You think I'm expecting too much intelligence in the
subscribers
to these newsgroups?
No - just a bit of courtesy - a quote of the relevant passage
in
the book might be appropriate.
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed
smugly
in the rain-darkened room. For a minute she stood looking at
it.
Then she filled the powder container and switched on the
machine."
Bottom of the antepenultimate page of cap. 5.
I would probably call this surface a "worktop" but I have come
across counters in combined kitchen-dining rooms where the
kitchen
part is separated from the dining room by what I would call a
counter on which dishes can be placed as they are being passed
from
the cooker to teh dining table or at which one can eqat
breakfast
perched on a stool.
Here in underpondia I think "bench" and "benchtop" would be
the most common terms, though "counter" and "countertop" are
gaining ground.
My feeling is that 'counter' has been pushed by real estate agents
who
have invented or popularised a lot of fancy words over the years.
|
Was Sonia in a house or an office? (The mention of powder and a
machine makes it sound like a copy machine in an office. [Well, if
"powder" is "toner."] Of course, the "rain-darkened room" sounds
more like a house than an office.)
Anyway, in a house here (USA), "counter" or "countertop" would be
perfectly normal. But in an office, it would be a "work surface" or
"work space" or even a table or stand.
Maria Conlon
"Let a smile be your umbrella" is not particularly good advice. |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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In article <2l6ctnF9cipvU1@uni-berlin.de>, Maria Conlon
<mariaconlon001@hotmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Robert Bannister wrote:
Michael West wrote:
Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
David wrote:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly
in the rain-darkened room. For a minute she stood looking at it.
Then she filled the powder container and switched on the
machine." Bottom of the antepenultimate page of cap. 5.
I would probably call this surface a "worktop" but I have come
across counters in combined kitchen-dining rooms where the
kitchen part is separated from the dining room by what I would
call a counter on which dishes can be placed as they are being
passed from the cooker to teh dining table or at which one can
eqat breakfast perched on a stool.
Here in underpondia I think "bench" and "benchtop" would be the
most common terms, though "counter" and "countertop" are gaining
ground.
My feeling is that 'counter' has been pushed by real estate agents
who have invented or popularised a lot of fancy words over the
years.
Was Sonia in a house or an office? (The mention of powder and a
machine makes it sound like a copy machine in an office. [Well, if
"powder" is "toner."] Of course, the "rain-darkened room" sounds more
like a house than an office.)
|
The machine is a washing machine and the powder is washing powder.
| Quote: | Anyway, in a house here (USA), "counter" or "countertop" would be
perfectly normal. But in an office, it would be a "work surface" or
"work space" or even a table or stand.
|
Counter to me is the surface area in a shop or place of exchange where
money is counted (and goods exchanged).
Horizontal general purpose surfaces in the kitchen to me would be
"top", "kitchen top" or (just possibly) "worktop".
My wife keeps referring to my desk as my "table". Apart from the fact
it has integral drawers, it might be. Some desks don't have integral
drawers and are no more than four legs with a horizontal work top, just
like many tables. What's in a name? Since money does get counted on my
desk, why isn't it a counter?
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/colour/1b-0.htm
Blue Magic
Left Ear of Bel
Head at the Gates of Death
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Frances Kemmish
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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David wrote:
| Quote: | In article <2l6ctnF9cipvU1@uni-berlin.de>, Maria Conlon
mariaconlon001@hotmail.com> wrote:
Anyway, in a house here (USA), "counter" or "countertop" would be
perfectly normal. But in an office, it would be a "work surface" or
"work space" or even a table or stand.
Counter to me is the surface area in a shop or place of exchange where
money is counted (and goods exchanged).
|
I just read a film review in the Guardian, which employs the term
"counter-jumping". I suppose that wouldn't mean much to US readers?
Fran |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:51 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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David wrote:
| Quote: | Maria Conlon wrote:
Robert Bannister wrote:
Michael West wrote:
Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
David wrote:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed
smugly
in the rain-darkened room. For a minute she stood looking at
it.
Then she filled the powder container and switched on the
machine." Bottom of the antepenultimate page of cap. 5.
I would probably call this surface a "worktop" but I have come
across counters in combined kitchen-dining rooms where the
kitchen part is separated from the dining room by what I would
call a counter on which dishes can be placed as they are being
passed from the cooker to teh dining table or at which one can
eqat breakfast perched on a stool.
Here in underpondia I think "bench" and "benchtop" would be the
most common terms, though "counter" and "countertop" are
gaining
ground.
My feeling is that 'counter' has been pushed by real estate
agents
who have invented or popularised a lot of fancy words over the
years.
Was Sonia in a house or an office? (The mention of powder and a
machine makes it sound like a copy machine in an office. [Well,
if
"powder" is "toner."] Of course, the "rain-darkened room" sounds
more
like a house than an office.)
The machine is a washing machine and the powder is washing powder.
|
Ah. That didn't even occur to me, I think because I don't use the
term "washing powder" or even just "powder" in connection with
washing clothes. It's either "soap" ("laundry soap") or "detergent"
("laundry detergent"). It doesn't matter whether, in fact, it's soap
or detergent, and it doesn't matter whether it's liquid or powder. I
just call the cleansing agent "soap" or "detergent," as if the words
meant the same.
| Quote: | Anyway, in a house here (USA), "counter" or "countertop" would be
perfectly normal. But in an office, it would be a "work surface"
or
"work space" or even a table or stand.
Counter to me is the surface area in a shop or place of exchange
where
money is counted (and goods exchanged).
Horizontal general purpose surfaces in the kitchen to me would be
"top", "kitchen top" or (just possibly) "worktop".
|
Our washing machine is in a separate room ("laundry room") and the
only surface is a small table, which I use for folding the clothes
and towels and such. I wouldn't call that a "counter" under any
circumstances that I can think of.
| Quote: | My wife keeps referring to my desk as my "table". Apart from the
fact
it has integral drawers, it might be. Some desks don't have
integral
drawers and are no more than four legs with a horizontal work top,
just like many tables. What's in a name? Since money does get
counted
on my desk, why isn't it a counter?
|
I don't know. Maybe because it's a desk?
Your concept of "counter" is very likely based on the original
usage, when counting had something to do with it. I don't know how
America's kitchen work surfaces came to be called "counters," but
these days, counting seldom occurs on them.
(I used to think that a counter was "counter to" something. I never
could think of what, exactly, it was counter to, though.) |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:24 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
On Friday, in article <4ccbae6e41david@dacha.freeuk.com>
david@dacha.freeuk.com "David" wrote:
| Quote: | Horizontal general purpose surfaces in the kitchen to me would be
"top", "kitchen top" or (just possibly) "worktop".
|
ISTR some builders of new homes referring to "island worktops" (even when
they were really peninsulae, being attached somewhere to the rest of the
worktops).
| Quote: | My wife keeps referring to my desk as my "table". Apart from the fact
it has integral drawers, it might be. Some desks don't have integral
drawers and are no more than four legs with a horizontal work top, just
like many tables. What's in a name? Since money does get counted on my
desk, why isn't it a counter?
|
There you have it, "On the Nail".
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:27 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
On Friday, in article <2l7blcF9lof7U1@uni-berlin.de>
mariaconlon001@hotmail.com "Maria Conlon" wrote:
| Quote: | (I used to think that a counter was "counter to" something. I never
could think of what, exactly, it was counter to, though.)
|
All semblance of logic, perchance?
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:02 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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At 08:33:30 on Fri, 9 Jul 2004, David <david@dacha.freeuk.com> wrote in
<4ccbae6e41david@dacha.freeuk.com>:
| Quote: | Counter to me is the surface area in a shop or place of exchange where
money is counted (and goods exchanged).
|
Agreed. Alternatively, a serving counter (such as somebody previously
referred to, between kitchen and diningroom).
| Quote: | Horizontal general purpose surfaces in the kitchen to me would be
"top", "kitchen top" or (just possibly) "worktop".
|
To me, "worktop" refers to the material it is made from ("I've got a
scratch on my worktop"). If it needs cleaning, its "surface" ("I must
wipe down my surfaces"). Otherwise, it's the "side" ("You'll find the
butter on the side").
But I guess that's just me.
--
Molly Mockford
I think I've been too long on my own, but the little green goblin that
lives under the sink says I'm OK - and he's never wrong, so I must be!
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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Sara Lorimer
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:20 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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David wrote, in part:
| Quote: | "Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in the
rain-darkened room.
|
What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
--
SML
http://pirate-women.com |
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:41 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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At 15:20:44 on Fri, 9 Jul 2004, Sara Lorimer
<sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu> wrote in
<1ggnx6t.10mdav2fhsoy0N%sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu>:
| Quote: | What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
|
I suppose it would make nasty dark patches on the wallpaper.
--
Molly Mockford
I think I've been too long on my own, but the little green goblin that
lives under the sink says I'm OK - and he's never wrong, so I must be!
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:47 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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In article <jQuAcVXVvu7AFwmU@molly.mockford>, Molly Mockford
<nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | At 08:33:30 on Fri, 9 Jul 2004, David <david@dacha.freeuk.com> wrote
in <4ccbae6e41david@dacha.freeuk.com>:
Counter to me is the surface area in a shop or place of exchange
where money is counted (and goods exchanged).
Agreed. Alternatively, a serving counter (such as somebody
previously referred to, between kitchen and diningroom).
Horizontal general purpose surfaces in the kitchen to me would be
"top", "kitchen top" or (just possibly) "worktop".
To me, "worktop" refers to the material it is made from ("I've got a
scratch on my worktop"). If it needs cleaning, its "surface" ("I
must wipe down my surfaces"). Otherwise, it's the "side" ("You'll
find the butter on the side").
But I guess that's just me.
|
Oh, surely not: I'd never think of you as having "side". :-)
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/photo/0z01-0.htm
Gretna Green
Why does it always rain in August? |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:48 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
In article <1ggnx6t.10mdav2fhsoy0N%sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu>,
Sara Lorimer <sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu> wrote:
| Quote: | David wrote, in part:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in
the rain-darkened room.
What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
|
Doubt it. Don't the light get dimmer when it rains in your part of the
world?
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/zodiac/baqu-0.htm
Aquarius (January 21st - February 19th)
Khumba - the Water-Pot
Anuket (Anukis) |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 4:05 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 22:48:22 +0100, David <david@dacha.freeuk.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | In article <1ggnx6t.10mdav2fhsoy0N%sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu>,
Sara Lorimer <sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu> wrote:
David wrote, in part:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in
the rain-darkened room.
What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
Doubt it. Don't the light get dimmer when it rains in your part of the
world?
|
The Rising Damp darkens the walls. |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 7:59 am
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
| Quote: | Maria Conlon wrote:
(I used to think that a counter was "counter to" something. I
never
could think of what, exactly, it was counter to, though.)
All semblance of logic, perchance?
|
Why would I think that? All that puzzles is not necessarily
illogical.
Maria Conlon
A very great part of the mischiefs
that vex this world arises from words. [Edmund Burke] |
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Sara Lorimer
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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|
David wrote:
| Quote: | In article <1ggnx6t.10mdav2fhsoy0N%sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu>,
Sara Lorimer <sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu> wrote:
David wrote, in part:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in
the rain-darkened room.
What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
Doubt it. Don't the light get dimmer when it rains in your part of the
world?
|
I would never think to describe a room as "rain-darkened," any more than
it would be "curtain-darkened." A street or a shirt or something else
that actually gets wet, sure, but not a room. Does "rain-darkened room"
sound reasonable to you?
--
SML
http://pirate-women.com |
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