else, "do you have any trombones at your house?" It isn't immediately
obvious if they mean paper clips or musical instruments. I know, you
can usually figure it out from the context, but still--I don't think
English has too many words spelled and pronounced exactly the same
that mean completely different things. English is so weird that I'm
sure it does, but usually if someone asks me if I have any something
or other with no context they could only be asking for 1 thing. Aha--
here's a situation--you ask your band director if he has any
trombones. You might mean paper clips to hold your music together,
or you might mean the instrument.
--- In [email protected], "Kate Jones"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "Ellen" <ellengoodman6@>
> wrote:
> >
> > I recently learned that the French word for paper clip is
trombone,
> > presumably because they look like little trombones. The paper
clip
> > boxes at work are in both French and English, presumably because
the
> > company sells to Canada. The French word for trombone is also
> > trombone, according to all the online translation websites. Can
> anyone
> > tell me if this isn't really as confusing as it sounds, or does
> context
> > take care of it? I can imagine going to a store and asking if
they
> > have any trombones and getting paper clips instead of the musical
> > instrument or vice versa. Must make for some interesting
situations.
> >
> There are words in English like that, too, (although I'm
blanking).
> I'm sure that if you walk into a music store you get a different
> answer than if you walk into an office supply store.
>
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