7 ms·
Is this is the correct place to debate whether it's a ship that is stuck, and not a boat?
by carl_dr 6y ago
Is this is the correct place to debate whether it's a ship that is stuck, and not a boat?
- ludwigschubert 6y agoWe can make it that place! And I think you’re correct; anything that’s shipping containers is a ship in my book.
- ludwigschubert 6y agoWe can even engage in idle speculation; maybe the author uses “boat” to make the situation feel easier to grasp. A boat being stuck sounds like it has less consequences than a ship being stuck.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoIT could be argued that a boat is just a generic term for 'watercraft' everything from a seadoo to a container vessel. And a ship is a subclass of boat.
- twostoned 6y agoI agree with this. I am wondering if boat is an abstract class and ship is an implementation.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoI think boat is a flexible definition and our view is one valid way to look at it, which the author of the article also shares.
- alanbernstein 6y agoSure, and it could be argued that "literally" means "figuratively", but should it?
- nickthemagicman 6y agoDepends on if you're talking about a class or an object.
- Guest42 6y agoThis is my position although instinctively I’d want to require the ability for a person to sit because I haven’t considered windsurfers or kite-boards to be boats.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoI think the definition is somewhat flexible. What would you call a surf or kiteboard instead?
- Guest42 6y ago
- chrisandchris 6y agoI think so too and there seems to be some distinction but I‘m not eager to ask the captain whether he has a boat or ship stuck in the suez canal: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/on-the-importance-of-names-part-two-whats-the-difference-between-a-boat-and-a-ship/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/on-the-impo...
- mumblemumble 6y agoThis seems like it's probably one of those cases where there's so much regional and domain variation that a debate about it would only be useful as fodder for someone's weekend homework in an undergraduate level linguistics course.
- real-dino 6y agoI believe a ship has crew, and a boat does not, or more simply a ship has a captain.
- rkachowski 6y agoit's a common pub quiz question, and the pub quiz answer is traditionally "a ship has lifeboats, whilst a boat does not". However I believe this is an oversimplification and a friend of mine in the merchant navy couldn't give me a fixed answer on the difference.
- matt-attack 6y agoI believe the old saying in the navy is “A ship can carry a boat, but a boat can’t carry a ship”.
- swiley 6y agoI heard "boats go under the water and ships go on the water."
- Steltek 6y agoTo which I say: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Blue_Marlin#/media/File:MV_Blue_Marlin_carrying_USS_Cole.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Blue_Marlin#/media/File:MV_... Clearly, Arleigh Burkes are boats.
- arcticfox 6y agoMaybe it's best read as not mutually exclusive. There seem to be ships that can also carry ships.
- archduck 6y agoSome of those which carry boats / Are the same which carry ships
- EdwardDiego 6y agoBut that's a ship carrying a ship, or did I miss something?
- wrycoder 6y agoShips lean outwards in a tight turn. Boats lean inwards. That’s one unusual definition I’ve heard. So, that’s definitely a ship. :-/
- jakemoshenko 6y agoSurely then there is a watercraft that leans neither? What do we call that!?
- DoofusOfDeath 6y agoA submarine.
- HeyLaughingBoy 6y agoSubs lean inward. Maybe that's why the General Dynamics division that builds submarines is called Electric Boat :-)
- EdwardDiego 6y agoDas Boot... not Das Schiff...
- archduck 6y agoThere are U-Schiffe too, which are larger than U-Boote, but the claustrophobia element wouldn't have been as intense in the film. On the other hand, an U-Schiff would have never become unstuck from the bottom of the Mediterranean. Another example of ships getting stuck where boats don't. (If you haven't seen the movie, this likely makes zero sense.)
- clankyclanker 6y agoSunk
- SamBam 6y agoA raft?
- maxerickson 6y agoIt's a canoe.
- spacemanmatt 6y agoDinghy
- benatkin 6y agoAs a landlubber, I can say that ships, canoes, and kayaks are all boats!
- black6 6y agoA boat can be portaged, a ship cannot.
- spiralx 6y agoA ship has a captain and crew, a boat does not.