Friday, January 14, 2011

Leigh's Lingua #3 - "Stool" steals more than one meaning.....

What do you like to sit on?  A chair, in German, is a "Stuhl" ---- the word that we get "stool" from.

But a "stool" in American English can have several meanings....

The first is related to a chair.    It is usually a chair without any back or sides.  It can sit high or low.  We can stand on it to reach things high up.  Or we can sit on a stool at a "counter" to eat things.  When someone goes to the bathroom, he or she also uses a "stool."

The second meaning is a medical term from the bathroom object.  If a doctor or nurse asks you for a "stool sample," he or she is not asking about your chairs.  He or she wants you to provide a sample -- a little bit -- of something that comes from your body naturally, every day.  

There is also an American slang term called a "stool pigeon."  But that is for another day.....

No comments:

Post a Comment