Talk:darning needle

RFD discussion

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RFV-sense. Um, a needle used for darning seems unidiomatic. (The second sense, an insect, is fine.) --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 19:57, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Delete. The WP article implies that regular needles are used for darning. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 20:05, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Striking my vote. I was wrong, darning does use a different type of needle. But I’m still not convinced it’s idiomatic. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 21:38, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

The only defence is that {{&lit}} pointlessly requires that someone go look up the component terms to understand the logic of the idiomatic sense of this term. DCDuring TALK 20:53, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Delete, also looking up words is not pointless. Mglovesfun (talk) 21:20, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

I thought darning needles were big. Siuenti (talk) 13:06, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, keep, google results show that it's not just my impression. Send to RFV if necessary. Siuenti (talk) 13:26, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

What about other names used to describe the same physical object, but differentiating by purpose, such as tapestry needle, crewel needle, upholstery needle? DCDuring TALK 13:50, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

I think it depends if they have specific characteristics. They don't appear to be used for size comparisons (no hits for "big as an upholstery needle" etc ) Siuenti (talk) 14:23, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't get the reasoning. DCDuring TALK 15:43, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Quotations like the following indicate that word conveys an object of a particular size:

"The wispy leaves of low-slung mesquite trees shield thousands of razor-sharp thorns the size of darning needles."

"and the entire soup was full of these fish bones that were the size of darning needles!"

"pejibaye, which grows as high as a five-story building and has a trunk covered with bristling black spines as big as a darning needle"

Siuenti (talk) 16:04, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Comment. Just because bigger needles are used for darning than for sewing, and just because writers assume that readers have that encyclopedic knowledge, that doesn't mean that readers have a lexical entry for the phrase "darning needle". google books:"the size of one of those" finds examples like the size of those old foot-washing basins and the size of one of those round watermelons and the size of one of those strange little three-wheelers they used to give disabled people in England and the size of an enclosed motorcycle sidecar; but it goes without saying that those phrases have no place in a dictionary. —Ruakh_TALK 18:15, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

• Keep. This term is included in Random House and Collins, both of which define it, basically, as "a long needle with a long eye used for darning." I think those specific characteristics — above-average length and a long eye — set it apart from an ordinary sewing needle. Astral (talk) 18:03, 20 July 2012 (UTC)
  • Then our definition needs to be fixed, because I wouldn't have RFD'd it if I had seen defining characteristics. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 21:51, 20 July 2012 (UTC)
• Keep In general, a specialised version of a tool seems like perfectly acceptable fodder for an entry, especially when it's not clear from context what form the specialisation takes. Otherwise we'd lose rolling pin (a pin for rolling?), snow shovel, butter knife, pepper mill etc. Smurrayinchester (talk) 20:16, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Kept. bd2412 T 02:22, 17 December 2012 (UTC)