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In my native language you "close" the lights to turn it off and "open" the lights to turn it on. It was really hard for me to explain this to my American roomma

In my native language you "close" the lights to turn it off and "open" the lights to turn it on. It was really hard for me to explain this to my American roommates, one of them kept saying that this is "illogical" because when you turn lights on you're actually closing the circuit not opening it...

goodcanadian 8y ago
Français? I know that even English speakers in Quebec will often "open" and "close" the lights.
- netheril96 8y ago
  I don't know what language your parent commenter is speaking, but in Chinese, we also "open" and "close" the light.
- _-___________-_ 8y ago
  Italians often say this too. They also "open" and "close" air conditioners where I would turn/switch them on/off.
yorwba 8y ago
It kind of makes sense for lamps that are constantly burning and where you regulate the brightness by opening or closing a small door. I guess ancient China must have had such lamps for that usage to develop. On the other hand, I can't find a rationalization for the use of "open" to mean "drive a car".
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  > constantly burning The sun has this property, so we open and close the blinds / curtains to regulate light flow. Small step from there to electric lights.
yongjik 8y ago
In English you turn off the switch, set off the alarm, and switch off the alarm again. And they have the nerve to tell others what's logical? :P (Also, I hope you're not turned off by my remarks. Or turned on. That would be awkward.)
- scrollaway 8y ago
  Your remarks may not be a turn-on, but as it turns out, I wouldn't turn them down. Or away, unless they turned up again. They set me off. It's clear that it was a set up; in fact it's starting to set in. They're spot-on; but if they weren't, they still wouldn't be spot-off. It's fun to think about how we sit down, we sit up, we stand down, we stand up, we lie down, we don't lie up. Except according to Merriam-Webster, who claims that we do when we stay in bed. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lie%20up https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lie%20up)
  - oasisbob 8y ago
    That's a fun set of examples. I think lie up is used naturally sometimes, but I may have just been thinking about it hard enough to fool myself. "She had obviously not slept, the events of the previous day being so disturbing. 'You were lying up all night,' I said the next morning."
    - scrollaway 8y ago
      Ah, interesting. I may have heard it in that context before, hard to tell.
  - maccam94 8y ago
    You can be laid up sick in bed, but I've never heard "lie up."
QuercusMax 8y ago
I remember some old adventure games (SCUMM engine maybe?) where you picked a verb (from a menu) and then an object. Open and Close were apparently synonyms for Turn On and Turn Off, so you could Close the Light or Turn Off the Door.
baddox 8y ago
That's very interesting, and especially confusing to anyone with a bit of electronics education. A light switch in a simple circuit needs to close the circuit to allow electricity to flow through the light source.
- gnulinux 8y ago
  In my language you "close the circuit" and when you do so you "open lights" and vice versa. It's not confusing (to me) since "the circuit" and "lights" (in plural) are different words.
- IggleSniggle 8y ago
  English is my first language, and yet my wife and I tell each other to “open the blinds” and “close the blinds” with far more frequency than “turn on/off the light” (which is on a timer).
SquishyPanda23 8y ago
When my daughter was first learning to talk, she kept asking us to close and open the lights. We've only spoken English to her, but somehow she decided that lights should be opened and closed. I wonder if this is a more natural metaphor.
chrismorgan 8y ago
My favourite example of such variation between languages and locales concerns examinations. The examples that follow are of different English locales; in the case of India, their form of English tends to match the words that would be used in their local languages. In different places as a student you might: give an exam; take an exam; write an exam; do an exam. Give and take are opposites, and some of these terms can be used for the examiner as well, again with variation between countries, languages and locales. If without context you said “give an exam” in India you’d mean you were the student performing an exam, but if you said “give an exam” in Australia it’d probably sound a little odd but indicate you were the lecturer presenting an exam to your students. Similarly with “write an exam”: in India that sounds perfectly normal and indicates you’re the student, performing the exam; but in Australia it sounds perfectly normal and means you’re the examiner, preparing the exam.
pmontra 8y ago
This for current technology but maybe your "opening the light" has an older origin. Going back in time we had gas lamps (open gas?), candles, fireplaces. In my language (Italian) we use "accendere" and "spegnere" which we use also with fire, as in light a fire or estinguish a fire.

goodcanadian 8y ago

Français? I know that even English speakers in Quebec will often "open" and "close" the lights.

netheril96 8y ago
I don't know what language your parent commenter is speaking, but in Chinese, we also "open" and "close" the light.
_-___________-_ 8y ago
Italians often say this too. They also "open" and "close" air conditioners where I would turn/switch them on/off.

yorwba 8y ago

It kind of makes sense for lamps that are constantly burning and where you regulate the brightness by opening or closing a small door. I guess ancient China must have had such lamps for that usage to develop. On the other hand, I can't find a rationalization for the use of "open" to mean "drive a car".

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
> constantly burning The sun has this property, so we open and close the blinds / curtains to regulate light flow. Small step from there to electric lights.

yongjik 8y ago

In English you turn off the switch, set off the alarm, and switch off the alarm again. And they have the nerve to tell others what's logical? :P (Also, I hope you're not turned off by my remarks. Or turned on. That would be awkward.)

scrollaway 8y ago
Your remarks may not be a turn-on, but as it turns out, I wouldn't turn them down. Or away, unless they turned up again. They set me off. It's clear that it was a set up; in fact it's starting to set in. They're spot-on; but if they weren't, they still wouldn't be spot-off. It's fun to think about how we sit down, we sit up, we stand down, we stand up, we lie down, we don't lie up. Except according to Merriam-Webster, who claims that we do when we stay in bed. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lie%20up https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lie%20up)
- oasisbob 8y ago
  That's a fun set of examples. I think lie up is used naturally sometimes, but I may have just been thinking about it hard enough to fool myself. "She had obviously not slept, the events of the previous day being so disturbing. 'You were lying up all night,' I said the next morning."
  - scrollaway 8y ago
    Ah, interesting. I may have heard it in that context before, hard to tell.
- maccam94 8y ago
  You can be laid up sick in bed, but I've never heard "lie up."

QuercusMax 8y ago

I remember some old adventure games (SCUMM engine maybe?) where you picked a verb (from a menu) and then an object. Open and Close were apparently synonyms for Turn On and Turn Off, so you could Close the Light or Turn Off the Door.

baddox 8y ago

That's very interesting, and especially confusing to anyone with a bit of electronics education. A light switch in a simple circuit needs to close the circuit to allow electricity to flow through the light source.

gnulinux 8y ago
In my language you "close the circuit" and when you do so you "open lights" and vice versa. It's not confusing (to me) since "the circuit" and "lights" (in plural) are different words.
IggleSniggle 8y ago
English is my first language, and yet my wife and I tell each other to “open the blinds” and “close the blinds” with far more frequency than “turn on/off the light” (which is on a timer).

SquishyPanda23 8y ago

When my daughter was first learning to talk, she kept asking us to close and open the lights. We've only spoken English to her, but somehow she decided that lights should be opened and closed. I wonder if this is a more natural metaphor.

chrismorgan 8y ago

My favourite example of such variation between languages and locales concerns examinations. The examples that follow are of different English locales; in the case of India, their form of English tends to match the words that would be used in their local languages. In different places as a student you might: give an exam; take an exam; write an exam; do an exam. Give and take are opposites, and some of these terms can be used for the examiner as well, again with variation between countries, languages and locales. If without context you said “give an exam” in India you’d mean you were the student performing an exam, but if you said “give an exam” in Australia it’d probably sound a little odd but indicate you were the lecturer presenting an exam to your students. Similarly with “write an exam”: in India that sounds perfectly normal and indicates you’re the student, performing the exam; but in Australia it sounds perfectly normal and means you’re the examiner, preparing the exam.

pmontra 8y ago

This for current technology but maybe your "opening the light" has an older origin. Going back in time we had gas lamps (open gas?), candles, fireplaces. In my language (Italian) we use "accendere" and "spegnere" which we use also with fire, as in light a fire or estinguish a fire.