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"The cloud"
DavidR
10 Posts
(Offline)
1
2015/05/23 - 11:58am

When my wife and I have visited the U.K., I've noticed that British television meteorologists refer to "the cloud" to mean what Americans would call "clouds" or maybe "the cloud-cover." That is, "the cloud" means, not one particular cloud, but the mass of clouds covering the sky, as in something like, "It will be overcast this morning, but then the cloud will move out and it will be sunny in the afternoon." It sounded really peculiar when I first heard it, as if there were one massive cloud looming over the island. 

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it a distinctively U.K. usage, or is it also found in other English-speaking countries? Is U.S. usage a more recent development, or is it the U.K. usage that is an innovation? Thanks for any thoughts on this!

Guest
2
2015/05/24 - 3:14pm

The generic term "cloud" goes back at least as far as 1800 (where Ngrams starts cataloging books). Take a look at this comparison of the usage of "the cloud" vs. "the clouds" and you'll see that the latter has nearly twice the citations. That's likely because there's rarely only a single cloud in the sky. Granted, there's a lot of other meanings for "cloud" but I usually start with Ngrams when responding to a question like yours.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says the use of "cloud" to name those things we see in the sky dates to ca. 1200, and that "cloud" evolved from "clud" and or "clod" (which were names for piles of dirt). Cumulus clouds often resemble piles of dirt, and in a storm, can have a dark color rather than white.

The scientific classification of clouds into different types (cirrus, cumulus, stratus, nimbus) began around 1800 and his since then incorporated many sub-categories. Now, if you're taking about stratus, then you have a single cloud covering most or all of the sky, and the usage you heard would make perfect sense, but if I understand you correctly, you say they use that term even when there are multiple separated clouds in the sky. That doesn't make sense to me, and I've never heard it used that way in the US, so it must be a UK thing.

It could also be a recent meme that's caught on in the UK. TV meteorologists (and others in the news business) seem to be particularly susceptible to that. Of late, the word "inundate" is getting a spike in use. So is "tornadic" and "climactic" (which is an outright error). You gotta remember that most media "meteorologists" don't really have degrees in meteorology ... they learn the jargon and play the role, but it's more about a pretty face and good stage presence.

deaconB
744 Posts
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3
2015/05/24 - 7:26pm

Heimhenge said
The generic term "cloud" goes back at least as far as 1800 (where Ngrams starts cataloging books).

What are they cataloguing before 1800?  Google nGram Viewer shows a big spike for cloud about 1650 and a big spike for clouds about 1580. Looking at the citations from 1500 to 1651, it appears most the citatyions are related to the language of the KJV bible, and not discussing weather at all.

I'm not sure why you disqualify "a cloud" and "several clouds" from your ngram. and only recognize THE cloud.  You're disqualifying A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-yo, Silver" . I realize that he rarely filled the sky with his ckouds, but ya gotta respect anyone who can afford silver bullets.

Guest
4
2015/05/25 - 11:13am

deaconB said: What are they cataloging before 1800?  Google nGram Viewer shows a big spike for cloud about 1650 and a big spike for clouds about 1580. Looking at the citations from 1500 to 1651, it appears most the citations are related to the language of the KJV bible, and not discussing weather at all.

I left the search period at the default 1800 instead of setting it back further, knowing 1800 was around when the scientific classification of clouds started. Then I erred by stating that's when Ngrams "started cataloging books" when I meant "started cataloging the (types of) books" I was looking for ... specifically those with meteorology glossaries. Sloppy writing on my part. My apologies for a misleading statement. From the Online Etymology Dictionary (and common sense) I knew the word "cloud" went back much further but didn't expect to find anything useful pre-1800.

I wasn't expecting Ngrams to be much help (which it wasn't) because "cloud" has so many other meanings, both as a noun and a verb. See my revised (and still not helpful) search here. I used the search terms "the cloud" and "the clouds" to at least eliminate the verb uses, and see that the plural form still dominates all the way back to 1500. But good luck finding any citation showing the usage DavidR asked about. I checked a couple dozen. No joy.

So the 1800 spike is no doubt due to the emerging scientific classification and study of clouds, but those two earlier spikes in 1600 and 1650 are a puzzle. I see citations related to the KJV bible, weather, and classical literature, but still nothing that addresses DavdR's question. I'll stick with my original guess that referring to multiple clouds in the singular is either a UK thing and/or a current media meme. 

DavidR
10 Posts
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5
2015/05/25 - 3:20pm

Thanks, Heimhenge. I appreciate the effort. Perhaps someone familiar with current U.K. usage (whether in science or on television) will chime in.

I find those spikes for "the clouds" (and disappearance of "the cloud") just before and after 1600 puzzling too. It's not the KJV, which has nearly twice as many instances of "the cloud" as "the clouds" (56 vs. 30), as reported in BibleWorks, some specialized software that I have. (The KJV, I presume, would be reported for 1611; the Geneva Bible of 1599 and the Bishops' Bible of 1595 have similar proportions.) Shakespeare?

deaconB
744 Posts
(Offline)
6
2015/05/25 - 8:24pm

DavidR said
I find those spikes for "the clouds" (and disappearance of "the cloud") just before and after 1600 puzzling too. It's not the KJV, which has nearly twice as many instances of "the cloud" as "the clouds" (56 vs. 30), as reported in BibleWorks, some specialized software that I have. (The KJV, I presume, would be reported for 1611; the Geneva Bible of 1599 and the Bishops' Bible of 1595 have similar proportions.) Shakespeare?

Google would count the KJV itself only once. Other documents that quote the KJV would be blips in the year those documents were published.

In rereading mt earlier comment, I see thart it comes off harsh, which was not my intent.  Heimhenge always seems to do very good research, and when I question his statements, I'm not trying to call him an idiot, but to find out things that are not obvious to me.  Come to think of it, I don't recall anyone sounding like a fool, except when my own attempts at humor fall flat.  My apologies.   

DavidR
10 Posts
(Offline)
7
2015/05/26 - 2:16pm

Thanks for that clarification about Google, deaconB. Still a mystery to me what's going on there.

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