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GCheng620 Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

"touch"/"contact"

What's the right word in situations like someone's pants "touching/contacting" the newly painted wall?
Is this supposed to be touching or contacting is this case?
I suppose it's "contacting" but then I've also heard of people saying
things like "This guy looks like his body's never touched sunlight."
  

Top answer

"Contact" sounds unnecessarily technical in that context. "Touch" is the plain way of saying that. If your pants touch the wall as you are walking by, "brush" is good.

— Enoon

  • "Contact" sounds unnecessarily technical in that context.
  • "Touch" is the plain way of saying that.
  • If your pants touch the wall as you are walking by, "brush" is good.
  • " That would be a strange way of putting that around here.
  • It's backwards.
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9 Answers
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"Contact" sounds unnecessarily technical in that context. "Touch" is the plain way of saying that. If your pants touch the wall as you are walking by, "brush" is good.
GCheng620I've also heard of people sayingthings like "This guy looks like his body's never touched sunlight."
That would be a strange way of putting that around here. It's backwards. His body neve
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enoon"Contact" sounds unnecessarily technical in that context. "Touch" is the plain way of saying that. If your pants touch the wall as you are walking by, "brush" is good.GCheng620I've also heard of people sayingthings like "This guy looks like his body's never touched sunlight."That would be a strange way of putting that around here. It's backwards. His body never felt
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GCheng620What's the right word in situations like someone's pants "touching/contacting" the newly painted wall?Is this supposed to be touching or contacting is this case?
Idiomatically we say

He got paint on his pants by sitting on [fresh paint / a freshly painted bench].
He got paint on his [pants / shirt / sweater / jacket] by leaning
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CalifJim GCheng620What's the right word in situations like someone's pants "touching/contacting" the newly painted wall?Is this supposed to be touching or contacting is this case?Idiomatically we sayHe got paint on his pants by sitting on [fresh paint / a freshly painted bench].He got paint on his [pants / shirt / sweater / jacket] by leaning against [fresh paint / a fres
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GCheng620I'm sure that there will be times where you tell your kids to NOT LET THEIR PANTS CONTACT THE PAINTED WALL,
No
GCheng620which is exactly how I'm going to use the expression!
Then you will use it in a way no native speaker of BrE or AmE would.
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GCheng620I'm sure that there will be times where you tell your kids to NOT LET THEIR PANTS CONTACT THE PAINTED WALL,which is exactly how I'm going to use the expression!
No. I can't even imagine using that sentence. I think you're being too sure about what people will say. But as you insist that you are going to use your own unusual expressions, there reall
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I'm sure that there will be times where you tell your kids to NOT LET THEIR PANTS CONTACT THE PAINTED WALL,

Never said that to my kids!

Clive
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fivejedjon GCheng620I'm sure that there will be times where you tell your kids to NOT LET THEIR PANTS CONTACT THE PAINTED WALL,NoGCheng620which is exactly how I'm going to use the expression!Then you will use it in a way no native speaker of BrE or AmE would.
Well, thanks for your precious opinion:)
Or how else would you say this expression(not exactly in
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CliveI'm sure that there will be times where you tell your kids to NOT LET THEIR PANTS CONTACT THE PAINTED WALL,Never said that to my kids!Clive
I know that the easiest and the most common in that case must be "DON'T GET THE PAINT ON YOUR PANTS"
, but what if you wanted to be more specific?
Or, let's set up another example,
what if you were to t
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