On 13/03/2014 15:09, ael wrote:
From another English person, I would say that "dirt" in British English
is understood to mean the substance which causes something to be "not
clean". That is it is much wider in meaning than soil or earth. But it
is almost never used to mean soil or earth under your feet, although
that might be described as "dirty" or even "dirt" if telling a child to
avoid rolling in it.
However, maybe there are places where this is not true given Jonathan's
post, but whenever I hear it used that way, it has come from American
English. Of course, some American English reflects some old British
usage and dialects from a few centuries ago....
I tend to tag with "ground" where there are sections of soil (which
may be covered with vegetation for some parts of the year) and maybe be
rocky with sections of sand and gravel. I have just been mapping some
paths and tracks on Bodmin Moor which have all these characteristics
and no one tag seems really descriptive.
For me (British English), 'ground' isn't a type of surface at all: it's
usually preceded by the definite article ('the ground') and means 'the
surface of the earth' (where 'earth' means the planet), but not
necessarily in a natural state: a paved area can be 'the ground'. Inside
a building, though, you talk of 'the floor'.
'Earth' as a substance is much the same as 'soil', except that soil
makes one think specifically of earth as a growing medium for plants.
There may be a 'false friend' in some languages, as 'the ground' roughly
corresponds to 'le sol' in French, which nevertheless sometimes has the
narrower meaning of 'soil'.
--
Steve
_______________________________________________
Tagging mailing list
Tagging@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
