Tall or high ?

michaelsanford

michaelsanford

Translator, Web Developer
My translation class was recently torn by a recent debate cocnerning the use of tall and high.

For me the two have very concrete, complementary and easily definable meanings; this doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of speakers I've consulted and even many of the ESL sites I checked.

So, in your own words, when would you use tall and when would you use high ? Again I'm not interested in quotations from sources, I have 'authoritative' sources going up the wazou, I'm interested in YOUR opinions.

I'm speaking as a linguist here, so I'm interested not in what is 'right' but in how people are actually using it so don't be shy ! :D
 
One might say a tower rises a thousand feet high, or stands one thousand feet tall. On the other hand, I am six feet tall, but only occasionally high.
 
Tall is the from point A to point B 'span' measurment of a person or thing.


  • 6 feet tall.
  • 6 stories tall.
  • taller than the next guy.
  • The tallest tower
High is the a single unit of a elevation or heights. (i.e. only point B)

  • the top of his head is 6 feet high
  • the building rises to the height of 6 stories
  • heigher than the guy below him
  • the heighest floor
 
No. I suggest correct is the "more correct" phrase. "More right", if you will though it's like straight and forward. Most people will say go straight then hang a left when it should be head forward then turn left.
 
Counter-clockwise would mean to rotate, not to turn and head in a different direction. Sorry, nice try thought. :D
 
Ha, led you down the wrong garden path again with a deliberate non-sequitur! :p

I said "people" not "Randman."

People will say "turn [knob, etc.] left" when they mean turn [i.e. rotate] counter-clockwise.

Your "turn." ;)
 
Yeah Tommy's explaination is wholly congruent with my own...I just wanted to see if I was the only one who still used it that way.

Vindication feels good :)
 
Tall describes the dimensions of an object.
High describes the location of an object.

Which evokes a "Redneck joke" I once heard a comedian tell:

A redneck gets on a plane for his first ever airplane flight. An hour in, he asks the stewardess: "Ma'am, how high is this plane?"

"40,000 feet", she says.

"Omigawd," the redneck gasps. "How wide is it?"

----

Apologies to all savvy rednecks out there...
 
Interestingly, when Germans take recreational drugs, they expand in the other direction - they become breit - wide or broad.
 
j00 c4n7 m355 w17h t3h 1337!~!!

Sorry... had to get that in there. :)

I definitely agree with the tall describes dimension/high describes location conclusion. The two words have very different meanings in my head.
 
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