ESL Vocabulary and Idioms

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

khoff — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:20:31 GMT

Yes, my dictionary and I are both American -- I should have considered British proununciation. Thanks for the explanation.

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Ti:ʧə — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:30:29 GMT

Thanks for the info.

/r/ follows the schwa in teacher in most American accents, but not in RP, which I tend to stick to for transcriptions. Do you have an American dictionary?

Phonemic and phonetic are close, but not the same thing. Phonemic script consists of the (roughly) 44 different sounds that differentiate words. Phonetic transcription can include any of the symbols in the international phonetic alphabet, whether or not they contribute to meaning (hence taking into account issues of aspiration, tapping, rolling, etc).

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

khoff — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:52:16 GMT

My browser is Internet Explorer and my operating system is Windows XP. Sometimes I see two boxes after the colon in your name, and sometimes one box followed by a schwa. What's the difference between phonemic script and phonetic transcription? I notice that the phonetic transcription of "teacher" in my dictionary has an "r" followingthe schwa, which is what I would expect, but your phonemic version does not. (I agree that the final "r" sound in "teacher" is not the same as an initial "r" sound, but at lest the way I say "teacher" the final sound is more than just a schwa. Don't you agree?)

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Ti:ʧə — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:43:25 GMT

I agree that most people don't use the word eatable or understand its meaning - something I noted in my earlier post - but it's obviously still in circulation in certain circles, since the thread poster's friend used it (accurately), which is what spawned this topic!

Your example of the piece of cake left in the sun shows that edible has at least two meanings in modern usage, one of which is closer to eatable. I would argue that "Dirt, paste, notebook paper, and banana peels" are in fact edible in that they can be eaten (and may, in fact, in some cases provide some nutritional benefit - starving people have eaten worse to avoid dying. People also routinely eat banana skins in some parts of the world). If I find boiled thistles to be extremely unpalatable, I might say they're inedible, despite the fact that some people do, in fact, eat them.

My name is "teacher" in phonemic script. It should be visible in any browser that supports unicode fonts. Could you do me a favour and let me know what browser and operating system you're using? If it's difficult for a lot of people to read I might have to change it.

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

khoff — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:59:56 GMT

"Eatable" may well be a valid word, but, like Clive, I've never heard it used -- except possibly in a sort of humorous way that a speaker might add -able to any verb that does not usually take that form. ("This leftover meatloaf has been in the refrigerator for a week -- is it still eatable?" "No, I think it's throw-out-able.") Certainly I don't know anyone who uses it seriously, as distinct from "edible." As I said earlier, perhaps it's more commonly used in British English than American. I don't doubt that it's a valid word somewhere; I'm just suggesting that if you use it in the U.S. people will probably think you just don't know the word "edible."

Also, I would quibble with the definition of "edible" as "non-poisonous." Not everything that is non-poisonous is edible. A piece of cake that has been left out in the desert and become as hard as a rock is non-poisonous, but I wouldn't call it edible. (Although I might change my mind if I were starving to death.) Dirt, paste, notebook paper, and banana peels are all non-poisonous, but also non-edible.

By the way, Ti: -- I've seen a lot of your posts recently, and I don't know how to address you -- on my screen, you name appears as Ti: followed by two squares. Do these represent some non-English character?

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Ti:ʧə — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:18:38 GMT

Edible and eatable are both valid words. Edible means non-poisonous. Eatable usually means good to eat. Something that is eatable is always edible, but edible things are not always eatable.

If you were lost in a forest, you would look for some edible plants to help you survive. You might not find them eatable, but at least you wouldn't die.

Edible is a much more common word. People often say it when they mean "eatable". Example: "I didn't like that restaurant. The food was inedible!"

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Clive — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:11:47 GMT

Hi,

I can't remenber ever encountering the word 'eatable'.

Clive

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Marius Hancu — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:36:53 GMT

Generally, IMO:

edible: shows a more cultivated speaker

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

khoff — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:43:25 GMT

Maybe "eatable" is more common in Britain and Canada than in the U.S. It's not heard much in the U.S. -- "edible" is definitely more commonly used.

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Marius Hancu — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:49:29 GMT

edible means eatable, but also non-poisonous

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eat·able

: fit to be eaten: a : such as can be taken as food without risk or utter revulsion though usually without pleasure <a piece of bread, stale and slightly moldy but eatable> b : pleasant to eat <her cherry cobbler is very eatable>

Merriam-Webster Unabridged
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I'd say your friend was upset by the meaning a in the above.

Re: what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

Feebs11 — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:32:14 GMT

There is no essential difference in meaning, which is "suitable or safe to eat", though eatable also has a sub-context of food that is "good enough to eat".

He seems to feel that you were criticizing his cooking. Perhaps it would have been better to say "This is really good. It is so tasty".

what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

warrener — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:36:32 GMT

My friend is not good at cooking. One day he was cooking, I tasted the food he made, and said, " good, this is eatable." The he said, being a little angry, "edible."

What's the difference between eatable and edible ?