5 ms·
You're right. We should stop calling anything a button which is not used to fasten cloth via a buttonhole, even if the entire English-speaking world uses the te
by drostie 13y ago
You're right. We should stop calling anything a button which is not used to fasten cloth via a buttonhole, even if the entire English-speaking world uses the term euphemistically to refer to round things.
- protitap 13y agoIt's more like a spinning toothpaste lid. I wouldn't call that a button, even if it is round. And I can think of a lot of other round things which make no sense being called a button.
- Avshalom 13y agoWhich English speaking world are you from? Because fasteners and 'things you push' yeah. Round things in general though? no. Knob maybe... maybe.
- scott_s 13y agoMy understanding of British English is that they would not call something a "knob" in polite company. Americans (and I am one) think nothing of it. So, there are a decent amount of words with slightly different meanings throughout the English speaking world.
- votingprawn 13y agoPlenty of British English speakers would use the word "knob", for example I have no idea what I would call the knobs on the cooker other than knobs. Or the knobs on amplifiers, or door knobs - well I suppose door handle works but door knobs are distinctly different from handles in my mind.
- polshaw 13y agodial :)
- votingprawn 13y agoHmm yes perhaps, I tend to think of a dial as part of a measurement device. So a volt/ammeter has a dial, a clock has a dial etc. I suppose I could see myself calling the temperature setting of a cooker the "Temperature dial", but not the mode selector knob thing. Mode/Temperature selector is quite a good one actually. Still doesn't come to hand like knob does though.
- drostie 13y agoI'm from the US. The article was from the BBC. So that's two English-speaking countries. In the US, of course, there are other buttons than push-buttons and clothing-buttons. Belly buttons for example. "Pin-back buttons" are usually just called buttons. Cornflowers are sometimes known as "Bachelor's button." You can of course use the term as an adjective -- button mushrooms, a button nose -- and you can refer to that indented mat that stops you from falling in the shower as a "button mat." If I described a "button mouse" to you, as opposed to a mouse button, you would probably come up with a visual image of a trackpoint mouse -- though you might also imagine a normal mouse covered with too many interaction buttons. The word "button" can also be used for things which are just generally small and globular and attached to other things -- you can find many search results for "button of rubber" and somewhat fewer for "button of glass" which fit this description.
- tome 13y agoI take it you're being sarcastic. Perhaps my English is letting me down, but besides clothing buttons (and also the US word for what British English calls a "badge") I've never heard "button" used for anything that you can't communicate with by pushing it.
- pessimizer 13y agoI guess you could communicate with me by pushing my bellybutton, but I wouldn't be 100% sure what you were trying to say.
- DanBC 13y agoWhat's the nubbin on the end of a fencing foil called?
- itsybitsycoder 13y agoSpherical mushrooms are buttons. So is the round thing on the poker table that shows who the current dealer is.
- saraid216 13y agohttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/button http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/button
- redblacktree 13y agoIndeed. I changed the buttons on my car just last week. They were getting flat.