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Thursday, November 10, 2005

I want to talk about a distinctive UK use of the word "Jumper". This word, "Jumper", in UK English, refers to a "sweater", in American English. I ran a couple of experiments to see if "Jumper" was an adequate description of the object in question. Since "Jumper" is an agentive verbal noun, which means that it describes someone who does something, I figured that my "jumper" would, in fact, jump. I placed it on my bed and watched for this "jumping" action but saw nothing after a few minutes. So, I thought that maybe if I put it on, I would jump higher. I tried that to no avail. I am beginning to wonder if it is some kind of protective device when one jumps out of an airplane or off a building but the common use of the "jumper" does not indicate that this is its actual use. I am not enough of a scientist to try this, however.

After the experiments above, I am forced to conclude provisionally until more research is done that "jumper" is, in fact, not very descriptive of the object in question.


posted by Chris  #12:16 PM | 0 comments |