3 ms·

Which 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 ago
My 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 ago
  Plenty 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 ago
    dial :)
    - votingprawn 13y ago
      Hmm 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 ago
I'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.

scott_s 13y ago

My 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 ago
Plenty 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 ago
  dial :)
  - votingprawn 13y ago
    Hmm 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 ago

I'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.