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[foxcatdog]

I just purchased a game i cannot delete enough stuff to install.

[Raphael]

I suggest you pull up the satellite view of Google Maps and nose around a US city— Chicago, for instance. From the satellite view you can easily distinguish urban, suburban, forest, and fields.

I think your impression is a bit exaggerated. I'm in a suburb adjoining the city. If I walked west, I'd be on streets for a mile, then in the woods. But that woods is only half a mile wide. There are other green areas in the suburbs, some of them much larger.

When I was younger you could find some farms in between the suburbs— development here largely followed the train lines, so there were gaps between. Today most of those gaps are filled in with suburbs— you won't find farms till you're 40 miles from the city center. But again, there are parks and forest preserves all over.

But it also depends on the region.

Thank you!

[alice]

But that woods is only half a mile wide.

Is "woods" singular in the USA? Over here we'd say "that wood is", or "those woods are".

[keenir]

But that woods is only half a mile wide.

Is "woods" singular in the USA? Over here we'd say "that wood is", or "those woods are".

Well, not sure about (g/G)eneral American, but in Maryland and maybe North Carolina, we say "I'm going down to the woods."...as a destination.......but "I've got to chop about three days' worth of wood"...which is only "three days' worth of woods" if the conversation is aimed/focused at clearing a plot of land, rather than how much of that lumber is going to be available afterwards.

[Travis B.]

But that woods is only half a mile wide.

Is "woods" singular in the USA? Over here we'd say "that wood is", or "those woods are".

To me (I speak an Inland North variety, as should be well-known here by now - lol) wood and (the) woods are distinct; the latter refers to physical wood, i.e. the material making up trees or former trees, and is a mass noun, while the former refers to a wooded area, and is also a mass noun of sorts.

[Ares Land]

I have a question about life in the USA. Basically, how "compact" or "solid" are suburban belts there? From what I've heard, I've got the impression that each major city in the US is surrounded by a ring of suburbs so that, if you're somewhere between the inner and outer edge of that ring, there's basically suburban middle- or upper class homes no matter where you turn.

I suggest you pull up the satellite view of Google Maps and nose around a US city— Chicago, for instance. From the satellite view you can easily distinguish urban, suburban, forest, and fields.

I think your impression is a bit exaggerated. I'm in a suburb adjoining the city. If I walked west, I'd be on streets for a mile, then in the woods. But that woods is only half a mile wide. There are other green areas in the suburbs, some of them much larger.

When I was younger you could find some farms in between the suburbs— development here largely followed the train lines, so there were gaps between. Today most of those gaps are filled in with suburbs— you won't find farms till you're 40 miles from the city center. But again, there are parks and forest preserves all over.

But it also depends on the region.

The difference in density is impressive! Here in Paris (the metro area is comparable, in population, to the Chicago metro area -- maybe even a bit larger) the farms start something more like 12 miles from the city center.

Paris is pretty extreme in terms of density though, even for a European city.

[zompist]

But that woods is only half a mile wide.

Is "woods" singular in the USA? Over here we'd say "that wood is", or "those woods are".

It's plural if you're referring to generic forest. But these are specific forest preserves— e.g. Thatcher Woods, just west of here.

From the Cook County Forest Preserves website: "Thatcher Woods represents a cross-section of the Des Plaines River Valley and supports remnant floodplain forest, savanna and prairie."

From a real estate website: "Thatcher Woods is a neighborhood in River Grove, Illinois."

I didn't think about it deeply, but since I was referring to a specific place, my brain went for +singular.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I think in daily speech I would probably say it's a plurale tantum in its general sense — as in "The woods are full of mysterious creatures..." or "In these woods, there are a number of mysterious creatures..." — but singular in the names of some places — "Thatcher Woods is a housing development". I might use a singular "wood" to mean "forest" in poetry or fantasy narration (or in a place name), but it would be a deliberate archaism.

[Travis B.]

I think in daily speech I would probably say it's a plurale tantum in its general sense — as in "The woods are full of mysterious creatures..." or "In these woods, there are a number of mysterious creatures..." — but singular in the names of some places — "Thatcher Woods is a housing development". I might use a singular "wood" to mean "forest" in poetry or fantasy narration (or in a place name), but it would be a deliberate archaism.

I agree completely. The normal usage (in NAE) to mean forest is the plurale tantum woods. Wood (singular) to mean forest is either poetic or archaic.

[foxcatdog]

Apparently in the french version of harry potter wands are translated as Baguette Magique. Is this the normal word for wands in french?

[zompist]

Apparently in the french version of harry potter wands are translated as Baguette Magique. Is this the normal word for wands in french?

Yep. Also used for chopsticks, conductors' batons, and of course bread.

[Torco]

is it used for penis?

I shall be disappointed in french if it isn't

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I can find attestations of baguette for "arms and legs", but not for the specific organ you've mentioned. I'm sure it's had some one-off uses for that in ribald jokes somewhere or other, though.

[Ares Land]

is it used for penis?

I shall be disappointed in french if it isn't

As a joke, yes, otherwise not really. Sorry to disappoint
One bakery makes 'baguettes magiques' that look exactly like you imagine.

(As for arms and legs, yeah, it works as a simile if they're really skinny.)

[Torco]

alas, l'aurait ete une belle expression, non? mange-moi la baguette.

[Ryusenshi]

Yep. Also used for chopsticks, conductors' batons, and of course bread.

Also drumsticks.

I once saw a music store right next to a bakery. A sign said "Buy three baguettes, get one free". I wondered whether the sign belonged to the bakery or the music store.

(Spoiler alert: it was the bakery.)

[zompist]

I once saw a music store right next to a bakery. A sign said "Buy three baguettes, get one free". I wondered whether the sign belonged to the bakery or the music store.

Neat!

A couple slang dictionaries suggest that filer un coup de baguette à (qqn.) means "have sex with", but maybe that's out of date!

[Travis B.]

I did not know that baguette had so many meanings in French! In English it only refers to a thing of bread, not all these other things!

[alice]

is it used for penis?

I shall be disappointed in french if it isn't

Alexei Sayle seems to think so, at 55 seconds.

[xxx]

any elongated object is able to represent a penis, any action the sexual act...