Can of Sugar or Canister of Sugar?

Hey there, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Amy calling from Charlotte.

Hey, Amy from Charlotte, North Carolina?

That is correct, yes.

We’re glad to speak with you. What’s on your mind?

So, Thanksgiving Day, before we ate, I was at my brother’s house helping my teenage nephew make one of the desserts, and he asked me to get some sugar from the pantry.

So I came back with the bag, and he said, no, the can of sugar.

So then I went to the countertop where my sister-in-law has this cute little vintage container that says sugar on it.

And he said, no, the can.

And at this point, everybody sort of stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

This is my sister-in-law or my niece and my nephew because they could not believe that I didn’t know what a can of sugar was.

So someone went to the pantry, retrieved it.

And when they showed me, I said, that’s not a can.

It’s a canister.

So a big argument ensued in which my teenage niece and nephew were just flabbergasted that their smart aunt didn’t know what a can of sugar was.

And I explained to them that’s because it’s not a can.

A can is all metal.

That’s mostly cardboard.

And so while I do think that my sister-in-law finally conceded, her kids, who are very smart, just could not believe that I didn’t know and insisted that, no, it’s a can of sugar.

Oh, interesting.

Oh, my.

Yeah.

I don’t think they’re in the majority here, but I do see their point based on the shape.

So just want a little bit of validation because, you know, teenagers know a lot and they are pretty smart, but they don’t know everything.

They love to gang up on their favorite adults sometimes.

For validation, we can confirm that you are their cool, smart aunt.

Thank you. That’s the main thing I needed.

Well, now tell us about this sugar container.

Yeah, yeah. I want to understand a little bit more what shape it is. Are we talking a cardboard cylinder?

It is. Yeah, I think it might be like Dixie crystals. And it’s got a plastic top that you usually slide to one side to pour. And then it is cardboard.

Like throughout, top and bottom, no metal anywhere.

Well, I do think there’s metal on the bottom, perhaps.

I know we have one in our break room at work that’s, I wouldn’t say it’s plastic on top and bottom.

There’s might, there may be some metal in the bottom.

Like I think of like an oatmeal container.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.

That’s a can of oatmeal.

Yeah, like Quaker oats or Morton salt, something like that.

Exactly.

But with metal.

Okay.

Interesting.

So there are a bunch of different ways to dive into this.

One, I can definitely see this confusion happening because there’s something called prototype theory, which is cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics.

And prototype theory talks about how we think of things and, of course, how we name them.

And in your prototype, you consider the material of the container to be relevant.

And so you think of a can as being metal.

And in the niece and nephew’s prototype, they think of it as the prototype of its shape, the cylindrical shape with the flat ends, and not what it’s made of.

So we’re talking about material versus shape.

But also you have material versus purpose.

But generally here, so that’s kind of your sticking point.

You’re looking at the same object with different criteria.

Yeah.

So I can’t say they’re wrong.

You could, I mean, I don’t know.

Martha?

I think it’s not.

Nobody wins in that situation, really.

It’s okay if we’re both right.

Yeah, I was going to say, or if you’re both wrong, you know, maybe you can say they’re wrong and they can say you’re wrong.

Well, I like to misquote J.R.R. Tolkien and say, never come to a linguist and ask them a question because they will tell you both no and yes.

I like it.

Well, we’re interested in semantics and etymology.

And so sometimes we’ve got Google.

You know, we can look and see what it says.

And this might say the majority of cans are metal.

But it’s not necessarily wrong to call it a can of sugar.

Yeah, no, it isn’t.

And I don’t think we can really put this to a vote because you’ve got the idiolect of the household here.

What they call it amongst themselves, your niece and nephew and their parents.

And you’re an outsider.

You’re coming in.

I don’t think you live with them, right?

You’re coming in as a visitor.

And so you’re being exposed to their little lingo that they’ve made as a family.

And so in that context of that household, they’re correct and you are not.

But in the larger universe, you both can be correct.

Okay.

I can live with that.

Yeah.

But I love how proud you are, though, of your niece and nephew.

You know that they’re smart.

And the fact that they’re willing to engage with you approves that.

They’re confident and smart.

Oh, yeah.

Going to make a go of the world.

We have fun banters that sometimes become a little heated, but all with good intentions and mostly, again, for fun.

Well, that sounds great. And how did the dish turn out that you were working on with the sugar?

Oh, it was delicious. It was something along the lines of a blueberry crumble, and I think we needed to add a little more sugar to the blueberry filling.

It was so good.

From the canister.

That sounds outstanding.

It was created with a can slash canister of sugar by a really cool 15-year-old.

Well, Amy, thank you so much for your call.

We appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks to you, too.

I appreciate it.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.