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Comment by carl_dr | Hacker News Reader

Is this is the correct place to debate whether it's a ship that is stuck, and not a boat?

Ships lean outwards in a tight turn. Boats lean inwards. That’s one unusual definition I’ve heard. So, that’s definitely a ship. :-/

Surely then there is a watercraft that leans neither? What do we call that!?

A submarine.

Subs lean inward. Maybe that's why the General Dynamics division that builds submarines is called Electric Boat :-)

Das Boot... not Das Schiff...

There are U-Schiffe too, which are larger than U-Boote, but the claustrophobia element wouldn't have been as intense in the film. On the other hand, an U-Schiff would have never become unstuck from the bottom of the Mediterranean. Another example of ships getting stuck where boats don't. (If you haven't seen the movie, this likely makes zero sense.)

Sunk

A raft?

The foiling yachts used in this last America's Cup don't really lean (unless something goes wrong).

So, does this mean that even a small catamaran is a “ship”? I like this definition and haven’t heard it before.

I think so too and there seems to be some distinction but I‘m not eager to ask the captain whether he has a boat or ship stuck in the suez canal: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/on-the-impo...

This seems like it's probably one of those cases where there's so much regional and domain variation that a debate about it would only be useful as fodder for someone's weekend homework in an undergraduate level linguistics course.

it's a common pub quiz question, and the pub quiz answer is traditionally "a ship has lifeboats, whilst a boat does not". However I believe this is an oversimplification and a friend of mine in the merchant navy couldn't give me a fixed answer on the difference.

I believe the old saying in the navy is “A ship can carry a boat, but a boat can’t carry a ship”.

I heard "boats go under the water and ships go on the water."

To which I say: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Blue_Marlin#/media/File:MV_...

Clearly, Arleigh Burkes are boats.

Maybe it's best read as not mutually exclusive. There seem to be ships that can also carry ships.

Some of those which carry boats / Are the same which carry ships

But that's a ship carrying a ship, or did I miss something?

IT could be argued that a boat is just a generic term for 'watercraft' everything from a seadoo to a container vessel.

And a ship is a subclass of boat.

I agree with this. I am wondering if boat is an abstract class and ship is an implementation.

I think boat is a flexible definition and our view is one valid way to look at it, which the author of the article also shares.

Sure, and it could be argued that "literally" means "figuratively", but should it?

Depends on if you're talking about a class or an object.

This is my position although instinctively I’d want to require the ability for a person to sit because I haven’t considered windsurfers or kite-boards to be boats.

I think the definition is somewhat flexible.

What would you call a surf or kiteboard instead?

Disclaimer: being subjective here and not too attached to the opinions, I waiver between words having independent meanings or defined by uses (a more Wittgenstein-esque approach, at least at my limited level of understanding)

I think that those could be grouped together but would require a new category that may or may not include water skis or wakeboards. Another condition i was thinking about placing on boat was a steering mechanism akin to a rudder but then realized rowing shells often don’t have those although I’d consider them boats.

I was inclined to agree with you, but research suggests 'boat' specifically refers to a small vessel. A ship is not just a large boat.

Word research?

The dictionary

We must have looked at different dictionaries.

What about a hovercraft

A hovercraft full of eels?

I believe a ship has crew, and a boat does not, or more simply a ship has a captain.

The Love Boat had a crew.

For that matter, the S.S. Minnow had a crew and is referred to as a ship, but wouldn't meet the lifeboat definition proposed elsewhere.

Even a tiny sailing boat has a crew. And indeed a captain.

We can make it that place! And I think you’re correct; anything that’s shipping containers is a ship in my book.

We can even engage in idle speculation; maybe the author uses “boat” to make the situation feel easier to grasp. A boat being stuck sounds like it has less consequences than a ship being stuck.

"ship is stuck" alliterates better, and sounds more childlike, to me at least.

There is no end to that game though, so perhaps it's not worth playing. "buffaloed boat is beached"

I think the alliteration of "big boat" is superior.

That super ship is still stuck though.

Big boat bottomed out becoming barrier that blocks brother big boats! Bodes badly for bearing boxes between big bodies of water!

bottomed out -> beached

that blocks -> blocking

As a landlubber, I can say that ships, canoes, and kayaks are all boats!

A boat can be portaged, a ship cannot.

A ship has a captain and crew, a boat does not.

It's a canoe.

Dinghy

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