What's the difference

[Quinn]

I know that experts have very precise meanings for words that the rest of us just throw around. With copiers we distinquished between blurs (optics) and smears (paper travel).

 

That said, I've always wondered what the difference is between glue, adhesive, and cement?

 

Also what's the difference between a creek, a stream, and a river?

 

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[ltljohn]

Get out and ride, you're thinking too much.

[upflying]

The difference is semantics.

[Caddis]

I've always wondered what the difference is between glue, adhesive, and cement?

The difference is semantics.

 

Or in this case, cement-ics?

[LBump]

Glue is an adhesive that cements items together. Ha

 

The attached link should give you some insight about waterways.

 

http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/NatureDefinitions.html

[Dave McReynolds]

I've been studying Spanish since retiring, and I'm always interested in words where the same or similar word means slightly, or in some cases completely different things in the other language. An example of similar meanings would be arroyo, which to us means a dry wash in the desert, but in Spanish means a creek or stream. A example where the meaning is completely different (sorry, a minor diversion from the OP's question) would be embarazado, which doesn't mean embarrassed, as you might guess, but pregnant.

[CarrotNC]

Blatantly borrowed from the writer Patrick McManus on the difference between a creek and a crick:

 

First of all a creek has none of the raucous, vulgar, freewheeling character of a crick. If they were people, creeks would wear tuxedos and amuse themselves with the ballet, opera, and witty conversation; cricks would go around in their undershirts and amuse themselves with the Saturday night fights, taverns, and humorous belching. Creeks would perspire and cricks, sweat. Creeks would smoke pipes; cricks, chew and spit.

 

Creeks tend to be pristine. They meander regally through high mountain meadows, cascade down dainty waterfalls, pause in placid pools, ripple over beds of gleaming gravel and polished rock. They sparkle in the sunlight. Deer and poets sip from creeks, and images of eagles wheel upon the surface of their mirrored depths.

 

Cricks, on the other hand, shuffle through cow pastures, slog through beaver dams, gurgle through culverts, ooze through barnyards, sprawl under sagging bridges, and when not otherwise occupied, thrash fitfully on their beds of quicksand and clay. Cows should perhaps be credited with giving cricks their most pronounced characteristic. In deference to the young and the few ladies left in the world whose sensitivities might be offended, I forgo a detailed description of this characteristic. Let me say only that to a cow the whole universe is a bathroom, and it makes no exception for cricks. A single cow equipped only with determination and fairly good aim can in a matter of hours transform a perfectly good creek into a crick.

[TyTass]

Aw, ya beat me too it!

[Albert]

Glue = horses

Adhesive = JB weld

Cement = has rocks and sand in it (and something else I think they find in Portland).

 

Seems clear to me Bob. Are you slapping a patio together or something?

[Quinn]

Actually, it's just my mind running in circles. I'd expected someone who'd passed chemistry in college to chime in with something like "Glue soaks into th pores of the materials and then solidifies. Adhesives stay sticky. And cement causes chemical changes to the surfaces being bonded to bond them together." No such luck here or with wikipedia either.

 

 

I just wanted to know so I didn't sound ignorent when I went to the hardware store and asked for rubber glue, or super cement.

 

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[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Cement = has rocks and sand in it (and something else I think they find in Portland).

 

In construction, cement is actually just the adhesive () used to bind rocks, gravel and sand together to make concrete; IOW, cement is just one component of concrete.

 

In a more general sense, "adhesive," "cement" and "glue" can pretty much be used interchangeably to refer to any substance used to attach one material to another.

[Mike]

Blatantly borrowed from the writer Patrick McManus on the difference between a creek and a crick:

 

First of all a creek has none of the raucous, vulgar, freewheeling character of a crick. If they were people, creeks would wear tuxedos and amuse themselves with the ballet, opera, and witty conversation; cricks would go around in their undershirts and amuse themselves with the Saturday night fights, taverns, and humorous belching. Creeks would perspire and cricks, sweat. Creeks would smoke pipes; cricks, chew and spit.

 

Creeks tend to be pristine. They meander regally through high mountain meadows, cascade down dainty waterfalls, pause in placid pools, ripple over beds of gleaming gravel and polished rock. They sparkle in the sunlight. Deer and poets sip from creeks, and images of eagles wheel upon the surface of their mirrored depths.

 

Cricks, on the other hand, shuffle through cow pastures, slog through beaver dams, gurgle through culverts, ooze through barnyards, sprawl under sagging bridges, and when not otherwise occupied, thrash fitfully on their beds of quicksand and clay. Cows should perhaps be credited with giving cricks their most pronounced characteristic. In deference to the young and the few ladies left in the world whose sensitivities might be offended, I forgo a detailed description of this characteristic. Let me say only that to a cow the whole universe is a bathroom, and it makes no exception for cricks. A single cow equipped only with determination and fairly good aim can in a matter of hours transform a perfectly good creek into a crick.

 

That's perfect. Thanks for sharing it.

 

I just forwarded it to a friend, a woman who's considered among the world's top fly fishermen (fisherwomen?).

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Blatantly borrowed from the writer Patrick McManus on the difference between a creek and a crick:

 

Wow, haven't heard McManus mentioned in quite a while. We used to take turns reading outloud from his books at Boy Scout camping events; sometimes the reader had to pause because he was laughing too hard to continue.

[SuperG]

adhesive is a proper name for a product that we commonly call glue.

 

"Cement is a fine, soft, powdery-type substance. It is made from a mixture of elements that are found in natural materials such as limestone, clay, sand and/or shale."

 

SOme manufacturers ma have gone a bit wild naming their product

"rubber cement" to make it sound like it will be hard as concrete when you are done.

 

We got used to the names, so now "rubber adhesive" or "rubber glue" sounds silly, rubber cement sounds much stronger isn't it?. So each product has a customary name for their adhesive.

 

My dentist glued the crown on top of my teeth, but she actually said she used a specialty cement, So I guess she cemented it.

 

[Albert]

Well my personal favorite is Mucilage. I just like the sound of it - mucilage, mucilage, mucilage. It's the kind of sound that makes 5th grade boys giggle - like "fart" or "ass". You could say I'm phonetically immature . . . but "phonetically" cracks me up too.

[doc47]

I've been studying Spanish since retiring, and I'm always interested in words where the same or similar word means slightly, or in some cases completely different things in the other language. An example of similar meanings would be arroyo, which to us means a dry wash in the desert, but in Spanish means a creek or stream. A example where the meaning is completely different (sorry, a minor diversion from the OP's question) would be embarazado, which doesn't mean embarrassed, as you might guess, but pregnant.

 

Well, if I were pregnant I'd sure as hell be embarazado!