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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
From recent correspondence I learned that lakes arising from damming of rivers are not called "artificial" lakes but rather man-made lakes. Now I wonder if this is an isolated case, or if there is a systematic difference in the use of these two expressions.
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456
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addict
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456 |
Arguably once filled up they are real lakes regardless of how formed, so 'synthetic' may ostensibly sound more apt. But by one of three definitions and the same origin as artifice , 'artificial' is entirely suitable also.
ÅΓª╥┐↕§
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
To me the term artificial lake means that one excavates a hole then carefully landscapes the area around it to look like an artistic version of a natural lake. You know, the like the artist's renderings they show on the time-share pamphlets. A man-made lake on the other hand is one made by damming but without landscaping it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
my usage would flow with Zed's.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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Ummm, eta, if it's flowing then it's a river not a lake.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
It seems to be a matter of what the adjective is modifying: the object, or the process. To me, man-made automatically describes the process of how the lake came to be, while artificial describes the lake itself. And to me, if a lake has real water, then it's a real lake! For the a-word to be acceptable to me in this context, I'd have to say artificially-created lake.
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addict
Joined: Oct 2005
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The lakes at theme parks seem pretty artificial in every way - the toilet bowl blue water, the African Queen boats on rails, the concrete hippopotamuses, ...
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