Linguistically speaking...

[Matt O]

Desk and credenza

The sound man moved the bass DI fader up on the mixing desk.
The sound man moved the bass DI fader up on the mixing credenza.

 

[charlie monroe]

The parallelograms were all quadrilaterals.


The parallelograms were all rectangles.

 

[malthumb]

The sound man moved the bass DI fader up on the mixing desk.
The sound man moved the bass DI fader up on the mixing credenza.

Touche'. Actually I thought "News Desk / News Credenza" as soon as I hit Post Reply.

 

[Matt O]

Touche'. Actually I thought "News Desk / News Credenza" as soon as I hit Post Reply.

We should call the front credenza for a ruling on that!

 

[malthumb]

The parallelograms were all quadrilaterals.


The parallelograms were all rectangles.

Both are appropriate and mean the same thing. I think this pair is still on the board.

 

[Meyatch]

A/an

 

[charlie monroe]

Nope. All parallelograms are quadrilaterals, but they aren't all rectangles.

 

[charlie monroe]

I listen to a bassist play

I listen to an bassist play

 

[malthumb]

Nope. All parallelograms are quadrilaterals, but they aren't all rectangles.

D'oh!

 

[bluesblaster]

heres one......find a word that has more than one, but similar spellings , has multiple meanings by definition, yet sounds exactly the same when pronounced.

I'll start, Scent, sent, cent

 

[bridgecables]

I think "inflammable" and "flammable" long ago lost any shades of meaning distinguishing them. I suspect your professor said prefixes and suffixes did not count. So I will keep on thinking.

 

[charlie monroe]

heres one......find a word that has more than one, but similar spellings , has multiple meanings by definition, yet sounds exactly the same when pronounced.

I'll start, Scent, sent, cent

There, they're, their

Edit: homonyms are kinda small fry compared to the OP's challenge

 

[D M C]

I was offering s*** and poop as possible perfect synonyms, but I see your point about poop in the nautical sense being a homonym of poop in the fecal sense and not a synonym of s***... in the nautical sense.

Wait.

Alternate spellings -color/colour- were off limits.

Well, then your prof. rigged the task to fail if there was an exception made to every reasonable answer.

 

[Matt O]

Well, then your prof. rigged the task to fail if there was an exception made to every reasonable answer.

Yes, as you pointed out previously, my original poop/s*** pair may not have been disproven by my former prof because his reply used a homonym of poop, and not poop, the syn for s***.

I totally understand your point.

Can you think of a sentence where both words do not derive meaning from naval architecture, yet are not interchangeable?

It's getting late, so please reply before I poop out and fall asleep.

Or, maybe I should call the old bugger to get the straight poop on what really happened that day in class while I wait.

P.S. Who is that in your avatar? The photo is exquisite. Perfect lighting.

 

[bluesblaster]

There, they're, their

Edit: homonyms are kinda small fry compared to the OP's challenge

How's the view way up there ?

 

[charlie monroe]

How's the view way up there ?

Worded poorly I guess.

We are 4 pages in, I guess I was suggesting we carry on with just the original premise, lest we become confused.

 

[Matt O]

As the OP, I concur with Charlie.

Let's keep it an orderly quest for the perfect synonym, please.

 

[5StringBlues]

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANI................

Oooops, wrong thread. Sorry all.





RIGHT!

 

[Matt O]

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANI................

Oooops, wrong thread. Sorry all.





RIGHT!

All right then, this one is yours to solve:

Inquisition/investigation

No fair saying Spanish investigation.

 

[Will_White]

Test/exam