Pieces in the jigsaw
I was taking lunch with a colleague in a restaurant today; we were discussing what we were going to do directly after lunch. I said I intended to go over to our other office to link up with a different colleague and 'pick up a jigsaw' from him.
My co-luncher paused momentarily, then asked: "What is it of?" I did not know what he meant, and so I asked for further clarification. There ensued a confused exchange, eventually resulting in him asking me whether I was 'well into my jigsaws'. This last query was the trigger for my realisation that we were talking about different objects.
And so this leads on to my enquiries arising:
- why on Earth is a 'jigsaw puzzle' normally truncated to 'jigsaw' when such conversational havoc can be wreaked?
- can anyone think of any other similar such confusing abbreviations?
- is it down to someone's conditioning how likely they are to assume one is talking about a 'jigsaw puzzle' when they say 'jigsaw' or is it innate?
3 comments:
I reckon a lot of people would assume you meant a puzzle, not a saw. That's probably why no-one has commented on this post. Think of the "Jigsaw Killer" in the Saw movies. He was nicknamed because of the puzzle-shaped piece he cut from the flesh of each of his victims - as far as I remember, no jigsaw ever appeared in any of the films. I'm sure hundreds of woodwork buffs were tutting in their seats.
On the subject of confusing abbreviations, there must be countless hilarious examples but sadly I can't think of one. I was once playing badminton at a sports centre and as I hired my racket casually asked the equipment woman if she had a 'cock as well. This was done for comic effect however and is not used in common parlance.
P.S. I would interested to know if anyone is "well into" their jigsaw puzzles? Is there a competitive circuit perhaps? What's the record time for completing a standard olympic sized jigsaw puzzle?
Your fellow diner obviously weighed up the two possibilities - one of you carrying out DIY and the other of you sitting down in a cardigan completing a 1000 piece Dutch windmill. He made the not unreasonable assumption that the latter was more likely.
Jamie's Dad is/was certainly well into his jigsaw puzzles. Rare was the occasion when he didn't have a 1 trillion piecer laid out on his dining room table.
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