h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Barter means to transact an exchange without money - e.g. you fix my leaky tap, I'll bake you a nice apple pie.

Haggle means to argue over how much money you'll pay for an item - I'll give you fifty shekels for the rug/fifty shekels? I'd be cutting me own throat if I let you have it for less than three hundred, etc.

Now, I have completely lost count of the number of times I've heard people use the word "barter" when they mean "haggle".

These two words do not look alike. They do not sound alike. They are not spelled similarly. They do not even describe similar activities, really, beyond being something to do with buying something.

So WHY THE HELL is 90% of the population so benightedly THICK that they can't tell these two simple concepts apart and use the right word?

Anyone who can explain why everyone else on the planet is mind-bendingly stupid and linguistically incompetent will be met with my admiration and a big soppy grin.

Oh. And happy holidays everybody.

SoRB

I blame the meeja.......or 2Legs.

How about creating a new word that means both things and neither at the same time- Baggle or Harter.

It's just a suggestion

p.s. it's quiet round here these last couple days- you'd think it was bloody Christmas or something

Refreshing to have an original complaint. I hadn't noticed this one before. It's going to be annoying me from now on. Damn you for that, SoRB!

TRiG.

If I may add a complaint, I'd like to point out the growing use of the word 'random' in reference to something which is merely unusual. It really gets me. Sad, but true.

I've just taken a quick tour through a number of dictionaries referenced by OneLook. To my amazement, some of them, including Encarta and Wordsmyth (and, far worse, my own Collins Thesaurus) list the words 'haggle' and 'barter' as synonyms, each of the other!

Looks like Wiki has the answer: "Misuses of the word 'barter'
Currently it is popular (especially on UK daytime television) to use the word 'barter' in place of 'haggle'. To Buy Or Not To Buy even uses it in one of their catchphrases "Will you barter or scarper?". It is commonly understood that the guests on the show will be paying solely with money and not, for example, offering them part exchange on their A reg Ford Cortina."

And I did so want to make you smile.

Have a good break.

Bartering and haggling aren’t everyday activities for most people in the UK, so I don’t think its all that surprising a lot of us don’t know the difference between the two.

Or its 2Legs fault.

Happy holidays

90% of the population believe anything repeated on the Beeb must be true.

If they're thick enough to believe that, they're gonna start believing in sky fairies and confusing barter/haggle without any problem.

PS, a majority of voters thought Labour were socialists.

The bigger the lie...

I agree it's annoying, but not worth loosing your temper over.

az

OK but what about the use of the word "lend" when the speaker means "borrow"? that's even worse. I am going to carry a really big stick to assault the next person I hear say "Can I lend your bike / pen / whatever?"

Who to? Anybody I know?

PP

Oooh, and now you've got me started. I'm so mad!

The use of the word "pacific" when the speaker means "specific",

grrrrrrr

PP

Oh, I'm on a roll.

"Where's the knife?"

"It's in the draw."

No it damn well isn't it's in the drawer.

It's no good I'm going to have to go and lie down for a while.

PP

PP, I hope you don't live anywhere near Birmingham. People at work can quite often be heard saying stuff along the lines of "So I borrowed him my pen". Aargh!

Deb

Well, one can almost understand how verbs like lend/borrow and bring/take get confused. But barter/haggle?

Meanwhile, I'm surprised no one has yet shown up here to tell us what a bunch of elitist intellectual snobs we are and how we must be truly blessed not to have anything more serious to worry about ...

az

Debs,

Birmingham must be a terrible place. Not even some of the policemen that I work with do that!

PP

I hate axe!!! The word is ask, morons!!!

Can I axe you a question? No, but I'd like to axe you, sonny!

William Caxton was perfectly happy to axe questions. Oh how fickle ye are, speakers of Englishe!

TRiG.

Why don't we haggle in shops, so why is it expected elsewhere? I say, next time you're at the checkout, and you're asked for £37.13, offer them £25. When the supervisor arrives, shake your head and tell him some of the stuff is a bit pricey. Who knows, you might get a discount.

Either that, or next time you sell your car, get a mate dressed in a uniform with a name badge to sit next to whatever you can find that looks like a till, and get him to say "do you need any help packing?" then get him to go 'bleep' as he pretends to pricecheck your car, and say " that's £3100 please". It might avoid any haggling.

"I axe, why the fyfte man Was nought housband to the Samaritan?"
Chaucer (Wife's Prologue 1386)

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991216