Water Ponds: Not Necessarily A Redundancy
Unfortunately, no one from the interior design and gardening world ever gets its terms approved by an English major. We could then point out the “water ponds” is just a tad redundant. Do you really need the “water” part? Isn’t that implied? What else are you going to fill the pond with? Champaign? Good intentions? The ashes of all English BA degrees?
After Taking A Deep Breath…
If you look for businesses and do it yourself stores, you will find that ponds are often referred to as “water ponds”. If you want someone to understand your question, you might have to swallow your grammatical pride and ask about “water ponds”. Some professional break “water ponds” down into specific categories, such as “garden water ponds”, “standing water ponds”, “fresh water ponds” but still there are those two words staring you in the face “water ponds”. You might as well call Mark Spitz a “water swimmer”.
Okay, Here’s My Theory
Granted, there are more things in this world to get worked up about, but I’m in the communication biz and the need to communicate effectively is ingrained in every cell in my body. The phrase “water ponds” makes the entire cells shudder and go “Eww!”
How did we start calling “ponds” “water ponds”? Could it be that most kids nowadays grow up not knowing what a pond is? Perhaps. The Interior Department estimated in 1997 that over 17,000 acres of wetland were lost every year. And that’s just in America. Wetland loss happens everywhere, except perhaps Antarctica, which is dealing with glacial loss, but that’s another essay. Could it be that the word “ponds” is becoming just as rare as what it represents?
Ponds used to be considered an everyday word. And this was before the skincare cream of the same name came out. Everyone knew of a pond nearby. Heck, kids still in the womb probably knew what a “pond” was. But now, the word “pond” seems to be departing from the collective unconscious. The fact that if you Google “water ponds” you will come up with over 17,100 web pages shows some linguistic tide has turned.
English is a living language that lives entirely in living things. As living things, we all change as we grow. What was self-explanatory yesterday needs reclassification today, and vice-versa.
So the prominence of the term “water ponds” in everyday English should be a warning that we are about to loose a major element in the real environment and subliminal environment – the pond.
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