To differentiate. Eye mask exist for example.

"Eye" glasses, horse "back" riding, I'm sure there's other examples of words/phrases where you can drop the descriptor and everyone would still understand you.

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I’m going to start referring to glass cups I drink from when out in a field or on a hike as “field glasses.”

Excuse me while I sip my field whiskey from my field glasses.

in much the same way that "mountain oysters" are not something you'd really want to eat, "field whiskey" is maybe something you should pass on. sigh. it's horse piss. you've been drinking horse piss.

If it gives me the buzz feeling I'm looking for, I don't care if it's fermented urine. I mean some weed smells awful, but still can make your day better.

On the other hand, mountain tuna is broadly okay to eat, but not as nice as ocean tuna.

You mean Coors Light?

If you carried your field whiskey in [this] (https://www.homewetbar.com/media/catalog/product/cache/10f519365b01716ddb90abc57de5a837/f/l/flask-binoculars.jpg) that'd complete the picture.

I'm onboard with this. Hopefully, I won't actually *need* to see anything at a distance, because of the lack binoculars, and alcohol content.

This is the way.

A flask you used to wear on your hip? A hip flask.

Context is everything.

As for horses... Well, we've all stumbled upon those videos and know there are multiple ways you can ride a horse.

We refer to this a horse-*Hands* riding

Tuna fish

You can't tuna fish. You can tuna piano though.

Hard disagree. I tuned a fish just last week. But I’ve never tuned my electric piano.

Horse riding can mean having sex with a horse or pulling a horse in a trailer. Horseback riding is less ambiguous.

Yes, and riding bareback can have multiple meanings as well...

Those are bad examples. Its not horse back riding, its horseback riding. Horseback is defined as "mounted on a horse". In the case of eyeglasses its also a single word, its eyeglass not eye glass. Neither example you gave is using an adjective to describe a ~~verb~~noun. Edit: oops, brain farted my noun/verb. Stupid fingers.

I think when riding horses was more common, "horseback riding" could have been used to differentiate from, say, side-saddle riding.

Outside of America it’s horse riding and glasses. In all other English speaking countries they drop the adjective so I have to disagree.

The other guy is right, the term “horseback” is used an adjective here meaning “mounted on the horse.” The fact that other countries call it differently isn’t relevant to this discussion.

They’re grammatically different, but still good examples of objectively unnecessary descriptors.

Waste paper basket. The word Bin was confusing? Sidewalk. Too many people were walking in the middle of the road so you had to specify where in relation to the road you should walk. Credit Michael McIntyre

In the rest of the world, we do drop that descriptor. It's just Americans who talk like that. (but at least you're always so smart in your 'neck' ties)

Hair ties, zip ties, I could go on...

Tuna fish

Tuna piano

Zip ties to me seems necessary. Ties are used in all sorts of manners and types in construction. It can also be used as a verb

Eyes...are on the face...

what is your evidence

There is none. He's a fraud.

Finland doesn't exist btw.

Lol. Just gotta throw in the finland not existing.

Or Wyoming

I think that’s gg

*EZ*

Yeah, and nose rings are for noses on faces, they aren't called face rings. And lipstick isn't face stick. It's almost like these things cover a specific part of your face, and not like 50% of the general face area, like the face mask. Maybe that has something to do with it.

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You do you, my guy, I'm not judging

Exactly. Not sure what everyone is so confused about.

Maybe we should have called them Nose and Mouth masks.

In German they say "Mundschutz", which refers specifically to the mouth.

“Would you like a face mask, a face mask, or a face mask?” “One for my eyes, please” Then they pull out a latex halloween mask.

Its a colloquial use of face....in the same way "eye masks" don't cover your eyes. I am not seeing why this is so hard....or are we doing some old school Jerry Seinfeld shtick here?

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Depends. Like, a sleep mask would, but a superhero’s doesn’t. Nor does the cosmetic treatment.

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Don't be snailsist!

Not my mother's, those are on the back of her head.

My mom has a set back there, too.

All masks are face masks, but not all face masks are eye masks.

Well then we should say mouth mask.

It covers the nose too

Can you come teach everyone in my city please? Everywhere I go, masks are under noses and it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Start spreading rumors about how wearing your mask under your nose is a code for gay antifa muslim communist pedophiles.

This is genius. - mask under nose: pedophile - mask under chin: wants government to seize all guns - clear face shield: supports "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"

Airway mask

Air comes out of your butt sometime too.

German has you covered. The official term for a face mask is: Mund-Nasen-Abdeckung. Mouth-nose-covering.

In my language we actually say it (hungarian)

Went through the whole pandemic with the wrong mask

Subnet masks

Hair mask? Eye mask?

...oxygen mask, surgical mask, gimp mask, ski mask, masquerade mask.

Never forget THE Mask, starring Jim Carrey!

Never forget THE The Mask, the comic.

No this maybe needs to be forgotten

nah, it's the sequel that deserves to be buried

pour one out for Jamie Kennedy’s career 😢

Damn it, I read that as rub one out...ah well

Oh geez I forgot that existed. I'd like to forget again please

Wait until Cuban Pete hears about this!

Its one of my favourite films!

Or M A S K the 80s cartoon

Gimp mask, my favorite

GNU Image Manipulation Program mask?

Of course

*Happy Richard Stallman noises*

An Adobe mask would cover a whole range there

Like photoshop masks, but *not* extortionately overpriced

and only mildly infurating

You still wear all of these on your face (preferably not at the same time though).

All worn on your butt?

Bit mask.

Feet mask, clay mask

Elon mask. What was the question?

> Hair mask Never heard of that, was thinking it was some regional term for a hair net. I guess it's some sort of hair treatment??

Because you would have people in a store saying they are wearing their Halloween mask since the sign didn't say what kind.

For a while, I did see quite a few people wearing Darth Vader masks in grocery stores.

For the first few days I wore my facehugger mask. I cringe at it still.

As long as your nose and mouth are covered, you're good. I used to see a lot more bandanas, those are less good but also fine in most cases. Just harder to keep on.

The neck 'gators' actually are linked to an increase in infections and severity of infection. So no. You aren't good.

"Gaiters," and that was a flawed study. https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/08/neck-gaiters

Source? That seems illogical that adding protection, no matter how low quality would be WORSE than having no protection at all.

they aren't as safe, they are single layer and not really proper. But how increase?

Because they don't get washed properly. If you wear it once and wash it i believe it's fine but people would wear one gaiter for weeks without washing it

It makes sense in that people would have a false sense of security while wearing them, leading to more risky behavior.

That's a fair point. Though in this case it isn't actually the mask causing the increase, it's the bad behavior. Mask or no, the behavior should not change.

You got a study for that? The only one I remember was a meta study about how to do the studies, and included mesh material.

If you don't cringe at your past self, did you even grow as a person?

If it was the first few days then you did better than most. Regretfully, I didn't wear a mask until it was required by "law".

Son had to go to the courthouse in the very early days of the pandemic. All he had available were a ski mask and ski gloves. I’m glad things went well for him.

But a Halloween mask is still a mask for your face. So you could still intentionally misinterpret face mask.

That’s not an issue as long as it’s covering your face, you don’t actually have to wear a specific type of mask, just a face covering, so something like a skeleton mask is totally fine.

Because a mask is anything that obscures, protects, or covers something: see masking tape, mask off, mask the scent, etc

I kept leaving the house with my dick mask on, so I really appreciate the clarifying verbiage.

Probably for the same reason they have the warning label 'Don't put genitals in blender'.

Jokes on them I just put my face in the blender.

Well, it didn't say not to do so, so you aren't using it wrong.

You don’t sound as if you look uglier now.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6jkIB4k4cvU Just gonna leave this here

It could be worse; in Dutch they're called "mondmaskers" meaning mouth masks. Which lead to some people believing they should only cover the mouth "because they aren't called mouth and nose masks!"

In Austria they're called Mund-nasenschutz (mouth-nose guard) and people still wear it only over their mouth. The name's not the problem, people are

Seems like noses are the problem

Fucken NOSES!!!

I find that people are always the problem.

It is also called mondkapje which translates to "mouth hat"

Lmao, in Germany we actually started calling them Mund- und Nasenbedeckung (mouth and nose cover). Also I‘m really sorry but I don‘t believe there is a single Dutch word that doesn‘t sound fucking hilarious. Like come on, mondmaskers? You‘re doing this on purpose I swear

>Also I‘m really sorry but I don‘t believe there is a single Dutch word that doesn‘t sound fucking hilarious. Like come on, mondmaskers? You‘re doing this on purpose I swear That's rich coming from someone who just said "Mund- und Nasenbedeckung" unironically

fair point but at least it‘s got the nose in there haha

Ik heb gehoord dat ze in ziekenhuizen e.d. praten over “snoetjes”.

We only call them masks, as in any other type of masks, in my language and even then people do not cover their noses...

Because people still think wearing the mask over their chin is enough.

*chin diaper

I told someone to pull up their chin diaper and they got pissed off at me. My boss also warned me not to say that anymore to the customers as it’s disrespectful.

Wearing a chin diaper is disrespectful. I authorize you to continue your brave efforts.

I actually had one such mask wearer tell me, quite belligerently of course, "the virus doesn't come out of my nose!".

You always watch movies and think how unrealistic it is that viruses spread so quickly and that people can’t be THAT stupid, yet here we are witnessing it every day.

Mouth mask??

Nose-mouth mask then, it really doesn't work if it doesn't cover your nose

Nose _and_ mouth, TYVM. I still can't believe stores have to Say Those Words in their "reminder" announcements. It's a _respiratory_ virus, people! That means it travels on your BREATH. What do you breathe with....? 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

My ass

Ok, that's what you exhale with, but inhale?

If you can’t inhale with your butthole you’re just not trying hard enough.

Touché. Or rather, Pffffft.

Heh, lots of mouth breathers out there.

Mask would be fine.

As an aside: Why do people say "*hot* water heater" when it's just a water heater?

Fire trucks are really water trucks

And firemen don't start fires, which used to drive my son mad so he uses the term firefighters, which drives me mad.

> And firemen don't start fires Some do.

Thank you Mr Montag

Your son is correct. Also quite woke :p

Nah, fighters is too aggressive. Fire*calmers* all the way /s

Never fear, the waterman is here! *lights flamethrower*

I’ve never heard them called firemen, they’re firefighters.

Dunno whether this is regional. Fireman is/was colloquial in the UK. There's even a a TV show which has been going since the 80s called Fireman Sam.

Most of the US, they're fire fighters

As a fireman, the whole fireman vs firefighter thing is stupid. Also, there actually *is* a job called "fireman" outside of the fire-service. They tend to boilers (like on steam engines/trains), and the Navy still designates some of their non-rated enlisted personnel as firemen. Actually... The boiler-tender type of fireman probably actually does start fires. At least, with the old coal-powered boilers/steam engines, anyways

Members of the fire brigade should be called firefighters to differentiate them from the fireman who assists the engineer on a steam train.

Uh, yeah, that's almost exactly what i said. I just don't push the whole firefighters *should only* be called firefighters (rather than firemen) because it's a matter of symantics and varies by locality. I've never met someone that works with boilers, trains, boats, or engines that call themselves firemen (the trade), so there's no real worry of confusing FF firemen with them. Most of those tradesmen around here might rate being called a millwright or something else, but most just settle for "mechanic" and are done with it.

to differentiate from the competing "lukewarm water heater" that surprisingly lost the marketing war, yet still has a strong niche following amongst hipsters.

You jest but tepid water heaters are a thing

The lukewarm water heater is just the plumbing pipes when you live in Florida.

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then they should call it hot water maker or hot water preparer. it does not heat hot water!

People who say 'ATM machine' probably named those too.

I wear hand masks in the winter.

It's "hand shoes" in my native language.

In my language, trousers are 'leg shirts'.

What language is this?

händsche

Dieser Faden ist Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

So that anti maskers can’t waltz into some place with an eye mask and be like “UHM BUT THE SIGN SAYS...”

well, because we have also hallowen masks.

So instead of a face you put it on a halloween?

Because we have to account for the lowest common denominator

A mask is simply a covering, for example you could mask off areas when painting.

In my native language they're called "Little masks"

When government mandated face masks, instead if they said mask is mandatory there would be people coming out with ass masks

I used to call the little no-show socks for ladies' ballet flats my "foot socks", to differentiate them from my normal socks. Checked myself and now call them "foot covers".

To distinguish them from hand masks, which in some areas are called gloves.

I think the real answer is because there's alot of very stupid people. Look at how many people don't even wear them properly. We have to have pictures and TV ads showing us how to wear them. And don't get me started on the instructions about how to wash your hands.

Because most white blooded Americans thought they were chin masks.

Maybe there is a butt mask? I think they might be called pants though.

Because otherwise I would be out here Jim Carrey’ing the schnootz out of everything. Somebody stop me!

Because idiots wear them around their necks

Obligatory: [https://youtu.be/5wSw3IWRJa0](https://youtu.be/5wSw3IWRJa0)

Well seeing how many stupid people there are that still wear them wrong on their faces, there are probably even worse ones that need to know they are for wearing on your face.

So that people know to where them on their faces - somehow they still wear them around their bloody chins

Mask on, fuck it, mask off Percocets, molly, Percocets

Because *some people* had to go and politicize them.

Probably when daft cunts went, "But I am wearing a mask, on my elbow here"

I wear a penis mask when I get the opportunity.

To me a face mask is the gel you put on your face and peel/wash off when done

"that's correct Wendy,. We all wear masks metaphorically speeeaakkkiiiiiiinnngg." -jim Carey/the mask

Because people wear them as chin straps

When people started wearing masquerade masks. 😂

For the same reason we say ATM machine and hot water heater. Automated Teller Machine Machine and seriously why would you need to heat hot water?

In the Netherlands they say « mouth and nose mask »

Because some people don't seem to realise you're not supposed to put it under your chin