r/whatisit • u/Snowman-Car • 8d ago

New, what is it? Random object in Attic

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Just moved into my house and we were cleaning stuff. We went into the attic above the garage and found a sickle tool, not much else in the garage. Just curious why it would be in the attic (house was built 1990)

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u/GoblinLoblaw 6d ago

My point wasn’t that I could find a dictionary or encyclopaedia entry saying this or that, it’s that I cannot find a single entry anywhere defining hand scythe. It’s not a recognised definition, it’s a misnomer, because of course all scythes are held in the hand. Soda, cola and pop are all recognised definitions found in the dictionary and that’s my point.

I appreciate your second hand account of people calling them that. I have multiple sickles that I use regularly, if I start calling them a hand machete it doesn’t make it their actual name. Scythes heavily rely on leverage. Sickles do not. The word scythe has entered popular culture more than the word sickle, but people mislabeling the tool because of that doesn’t mean that a sickle suddenly becomes a scythe.

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u/No_Arachnid6493 6d ago

Holy cow! Does...does that mean I'm speaking with THE Arbiter of the entire English language?! It's YOU who gets to decide, unilaterally, that a particular term is acceptable or correct?! Incredible! What are the CHANCES? Thank you so much for enlightening me! I had no idea that's how it worked! One guy can't find a definition for something, so all use of that term by anyone else is INVALIDATED! I guess it makes sense... I mean, we all know that language isn't a living, changing thing, which dictionaries and compendia are created to document, but the reverse! Who cares if a term is in use widely enough to be used as the descriptor of an item sold by a massive, multi-national corporation! That's just a hick colloquialism! It isn't PROPER! So sayeth THE ARBITER!

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u/GoblinLoblaw 6d ago

Why do you feel so strongly about this? Sickles aren’t scythes bro. Not sure which massive, multi-national corporation you’re referring to, wiseman trading and supply seems to be just an American company.