NationStates Jolt Archive

Can you....??

Okay this is an argument a few of us have been having... it's kinda random and some would say sad but i want the vote to be out there...

Okay the big question is can you fill up a puddle?

Some people have prepared arguments apprently so lets see them...

Argument against filling up a puddle:


Why you cannot fill up a puddle.

When precipitation (rain) falls from the sky it lands on the ground and if in a hollow or groove it will form a puddle, as long as there is enough water to stay against evaporation. Once this water is in the hole it is called a puddle. A puddle is the water that has collected in the hole. If it rains more and adds water to the water already in the hole it is not filling up the puddle, as the puddle is the water already there and it is impossible to fill up water molecules, what is really happening is you are making the puddle larger by adding more water to what is there, this is not filling it up, it is adding water. What you are filling up is the hole which will fill till it overflows, YES you can fill up a hole with water, this would make a puddle in the hole, but you CANNOT fill a puddle up as the puddle is the water in the hole.

Think of a sink, you fill the sink with water, you can fill the sink as many times as you want, you are not filling the water in the sink!!! When filling a hole with water same applies, you are adding water to the hole so therefore are filling the hole not the puddle, so as this shows, a puddle is just a lazy way to say “there is water filling that hole” Or “That hole is full of water”.

Puddle = Water in hole.

www.dictionary.com defines a puddle as: A small pool of water, especially rainwater.
YOU ARE NOT FILLING THE PUDDLE! YOU ARE FILLING THE HOLE!


Argument for filling up a puddle:


Why you can fill up a puddle.

You are standing at the bus stop waiting for a taxi and you notice a hole in the street. It begins to rain and you notice that the hole is now partly full of water. The hole is no longer a hole but a puddle (well its still a hole but terminology makes it a puddle**). After a while of staring at this puddle it begins to rain again. As the ‘water in hole’ (puddle) is not completely full it begins to ‘Fill up’ with the rain water now falling in the second shower so is now effectively filling up the puddle.

Let me explain some more. You have a glass of water, you don’t call it a glass with water in it, no, you call it a ‘drink’. For examples sake the glass is the hole and the drink is the puddle.

You notice that the drink is almost empty so you go back to the sink to add more water. People usually ask for a ‘refill’ or ‘fill up my drink’ when they request this. Not fill up my glass with water in it, no, they ask to fill up my drink. Had the glass been empty then they would ask fill up my glass.

Thus proving that it is possible to fill up a puddle. Although it has to be a puddle (hole with water in it) before it can be filled.

** For arguments sake lets take a quote… “Puddle = Water in hole.” (By James Travers ‘Why you cannot fill a puddle’)…oh look this quote comes from the other argument which in turn helps mine.

thanks for reading, click yes on poll to say that you can fill up a puddle, no to say you cant.

Please if you vote, can you leave a post as to why you voted on that option.

Hahah. Interesting. I'm going with argument one. "Filling up a puddle" is like saying "the lightning flashes." (Lightning is the flash. I got this from Nietzsche.) You can't fill up a puddle because a puddle is, by definition and its nature, a collection of water. In other words, it's redundant.

I was tempted to say that you can increase the amount of water in a puddle, which would sort of be like filling up the puddle, but then I slapped myself in the head because I realized I wasn't really filling up the puddle, I was adding more water to the dip in the ground. All I'm really doing is increasizing the size of the puddle, not filling up the puddle. Boy, that was fun.

A well stated point ^ :D i cant believe i have arguements like this all the time now.

Puddles don't exist. They can't exist. Prove they do! *crosses arms*

If I've had a lot of beer to drink, I can fill up several puddles.

If I've had a lot of beer to drink, I can fill up several puddles.

damn it, someone always beats me to the jokes :mad: :mad: :mad: :) :) :)

Puddles don't exist. They can't exist. Prove they do! *crosses arms*

*stands up, points out of window* right there, on the ground no more than five meters away!!!

damn it, someone always beats me to the jokes :mad: :mad: :mad: :) :) :)

Well, I did have a lot of beer tonight, so it's right on the top of my mind.

I see your paradoxical question, and raise you a Chinese proverb.

"Take two birds, and tie them together. Even though they have four wings, they cannot fly."

interesting proverb.

I see your paradoxical question, and raise you a Chinese proverb.

"Take two birds, and tie them together. Even though they have four wings, they cannot fly."

I know I'm reading too much into that proverb, but it seems like a cool argument for individualism or at least an argument against collectivization.

Logically you can't fill a puddle.

Figures of speech though don't follow logic, and neither does the English language.

Ok? Which smarty answered "yes"?

lol there is no way puddles can be filled!!

Ok? Which smarty answered "yes"?

I did, just now, to spite you. :D

I know I'm reading too much into that proverb, but it seems like a cool argument for individualism or at least an argument against collectivization.


Thats the beauty of those things, you can apply several meanings fom them.
Although, Im pretty cetain its all about individualism.

what two people said yes???

Logically you can't fill a puddle.

Figures of speech though don't follow logic, and neither does the English language.

Yeah. Language tends to separate the action (verb) from the object acting (noun). We say "fill up the puddle" because we're focusing on the verb-noun relationship. Instead we should be looking at just what defines the noun. The puddle's nature is to be filled just as the lightning's nature is to flash.

^ why make it so complicated, why not just say, as it is put down before me it is impossible to fill up a puddle??

Yes. You can fill it up with a towel, which soaks up the water.

i think you missed the point...

Of course puddles can be filled: with a soluble substance, like salt.

*Wonders, was that the meaning of the question, or did the real reaon get lost in translation? :confused: *

Puddles don't exist. They can't exist. Prove they do! *crosses arms*

*drives fast through a puddle and douses Carops

:D teehee

Of course puddles can be filled: with a soluble substance, like salt.

we are talking about filling with water, a puddle that is already there.

the puddle is the water and the hole. its full when it starts to overflow.
just as your drink is full when the glass overflows.

This makes me wonder why I would want to become an English teacher...

I voted YES, by the way. Just for kicks. :)

I'd say... perhaps.

No, but I can make a puddle :D:D:D

:rolleyes: we can all make puddles if we want to, just go over there if you're gonna...

I voted 'No', you can't fill a puddle....... as you can't completely empty one either.

I know I'm reading too much into that proverb, but it seems like a cool argument for individualism or at least an argument against collectivization.

Yes, it is a nice one but not quite as linear as that. Think of the chosen formations birds have once they are air born.
Niether extreme of individualism or collectivism will give enlightenment to this proverb.

I am now so confused that I think I might go to bed.

what is so confusing??? it is simple, you can't fill a puddle! :D

No, because putting anything in the puddle displaces the water and so the puddle is now filled with another substance, and so is just another puddle. Of course, that leads to questions of the absolute definition of a puddle, but suffice to say if you replace one liquid with another, it is still a puddle, but of a different substance.

true... everyone has such sensible reasons...

you can fill up the puddle, that will make it larger. and you stop filling the Puddle when it turns into a Pool, Pond or Lake.

the real question is, at what size does a puddle of water turn into a pool of water or even a pond?

but all you are doing is adding water to the puddle, not filling it.

Of course puddles can be filled: with a soluble substance, like salt

Ah of course.*wishes he hadn't already voted no*

yes you can fill a puddle

a puddle is water defined by the hole its in just as a drink is liquid defined by the glass its in.

once the hole or glass is full, the puddle or drink is full.

very clever... :(

very clever... :(
without the "container" the liquid is something else

if you fill your glass until the liquid spills onto the floor that stuff on the floor is a mess, not your drink.

o that makes it sound so simple, thanks. :)

The puddle is already full even before water is added. None of you are taking into account the air molecules..

That, and feasibly at 0K (-273C or "absolute zero") molecules stop moving, and can be compressed into a large, puddle-filling atom accordingly. This is called "ice."

interesting reading each view thanks guys/gals...

no really, what the fuck?

no really, what the fuck?

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