Timeline for Can the verb "wrap" describe the current condition of something?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
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| Mar 5, 2015 at 4:31 | comment | added | Matthew W | @BenKovitz The figurative use of wrap is far enough away from the physical sense (a line of people doesn't wrap a building in physical contact, the way a ribbon wraps a pipe), that I don't see any reason why the wrapped item has to be capable of being physically, literally wrapped. I would think of it more as a transferred sense than an analogy. "The line wrapped around the block" is a pretty common phrase, and it seems no less valid to me than a line wrapped around a building (the Google count is pretty much tied, for what that's worth). | |
| Mar 4, 2015 at 20:20 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | I think @Oldbag has an excellent point. A line of people "wrapping around a corner" is an analogy deriving from enclosing something with paper, a ribbon, etc. So, if there's a building at the corner, the analogy works much better, because building serves as the "wrappee". But surely it's not an absolute rule that a building must be there. Language is too loose for that. It basically depends on what other things in the situation fit well with the basic "wrap" analogy. | |
| Mar 3, 2015 at 2:03 | comment | added | Matthew W | @meatie Absolutely, the simple present wraps is fine here. I took your question to be about meaning, rather than tense. Just so you know, you might also encounter the past participle used as a predicate adjective: "The ribbon is wrapped around the pipe." I would regard the two as identical in meaning. | |
| Mar 3, 2015 at 1:04 | comment | added | meatie | Actually, my question is not about whether the line of people is completely around the corner. My question is whether the present tense of "wrap" can be used to describe a CURRENT condition in the same way that the verb "surround" is used in "a wall surrounds the house". | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 22:04 | comment | added | Oldbag | You've certainly made a valiant effort at arguing your point - however, just because you can make an argument for something, does not make it so. There are uses for phrases (that may be somewhat inaccurate to your thinking) that are already accepted and commonly recognized. This is an example. | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 17:22 | comment | added | Matthew W | @Oldbag I would argue further that any marker is valid for use with wrap (in this incomplete sense), as long as it is part of an object (even if an abstraction) that the subject of the sentence (it is implied) will be or could be (or, perhaps even, would be if it were possible) entirely wrapped around. | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 17:22 | comment | added | Matthew W | @Oldbag I do think that the "marker" used should be part of the object that is wrapped, although the exact relationship may be unspecified. If the speaker means specifically that the line is partially wrapped around the building, then no, he or she would not properly refer to the street corner, anymore than to a sign or fire hydrant that happens to be at the corner of the building. However, that does not make "wrapped around the street corner" incorrect, because the implied object of that wrapping is the city block, not the building. | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 17:22 | comment | added | Matthew W | @Oldbag An empty lot has corners, just like a building, so I would say it "wrapped around the corner of the empty lot". There are two issues here: the general use of wrap in an incomplete sense, and the implication of what is being wrapped. Your sentence "The line of people is wrapped around the building" does not convey the meaning intended--it means that the line returns to its starting point, which is not the case here. "Wrapped around the corner" has the sense of a "partial" wrapping--as I stated in my answer, it implies that the line "has partially wrapped around the block". | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 15:37 | comment | added | Oldbag | You're agreeing with me. "Wrap around the corner," IMPLIES the BUILDING'S corner - not the street corner. If you don't believe me, picture (Seriously, PICTURE IN YOUR MIND...) saying it in an empty lot (with no structures) and a line of people extending around the corner of a pathway. You wouldn't say "wraps around the corner", would you? (If you would, you're wrong.) | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 14:58 | comment | added | Matthew W | @Oldbag I'm afraid I have to disagree completely. "Wrap around the corner" is an entirely common phrase. If you only use wrap in the literal sense, as you suggest, the people would only be "wrapped around the building" if the end of the line extended all the way back around to the entrance. A line could be described as "reaching/going to the corner", but that would not convey the full sense of "wrapped around the corner": that the line turns the corner and goes beyond it. Perhaps "reaches around the corner". | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 11:27 | comment | added | Oldbag | IMO, you're kind of missing the point of the usage: One wouldn't say "The line WRAPS around the street corner," the expression is: "The line of people is WRAPPED around the building." "Wrap" is used in this instance because the proximity of the people to the structure gives an impression that they are (or, practically are) encircling it like a ribbon. A line of people in reference to a street corner would simply be described as, "reaching" or "going" to the corner. | |
| Mar 2, 2015 at 7:44 | history | answered | Matthew W | CC BY-SA 3.0 |