You would have less sugarif you consider the sugar to be one flowing item, like a liquid. If you were referring to the individual sugar grains, you would use fewer.
I don't make the rules, I just have to slavishly insure that everybody else follows them ;)
(I don't make the rules, I just have to slavishly insure that everybody else follows them ;)
Mystery_Bob,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:23,
archived)
Ahh. But it brings up the old philosophical issue:I have a pile of sand (or sugar, I suppose but what the hell am I doing with a pile of sugar for fuck's sake?!) and I remove a grain from the top of the pile.
I continue to remove grains from the pile, one at a time; at what point does it stop being a pile of sand? When one grain is left? 10 grains? There is no real distinction between masses of things and groups of things.
(I continue to remove grains from the pile, one at a time; at what point does it stop being a pile of sand? When one grain is left? 10 grains? There is no real distinction between masses of things and groups of things.
The Alchemist king of the needlessly complicated,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:27,
archived)
When I do a poo on it and rub it into your hair.Then it's just "smelly hair sand".
( ClanSoul,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:31,
archived)
I sort of know a song about that (sortof)(
The Alchemist king of the needlessly complicated,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:37,
archived)
There may not be a difference philosophicallybut there is a difference in everyday language.
If I ask a greengrocer for a bunch of grapes and he hands me a single grape, arguments about philosophy are not going to make me buy it.
[edit] On reflection, i think what you have identified is simply vague language, rather than any philosophical idea. A 'pile' of sand is a relative term which may mean something different to everyone, whereas 'ten tons of sand' is a specific value that there can be no doubt about.
(If I ask a greengrocer for a bunch of grapes and he hands me a single grape, arguments about philosophy are not going to make me buy it.
[edit] On reflection, i think what you have identified is simply vague language, rather than any philosophical idea. A 'pile' of sand is a relative term which may mean something different to everyone, whereas 'ten tons of sand' is a specific value that there can be no doubt about.
Mystery_Bob,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:32,
archived)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_the_heap The Alchemist king of the needlessly complicated,
Sun 31 Aug 2008, 12:39,
archived)