Stringing Along

A recent conversation in the Miyamoto household:

Wife: Can you find some string for me?

Me: Sure! What kind?
Wife: Just some string.
Me: You want twine? Or cord?
Wife: Yes, any kind.
Me: Which is it you want? String or twine or cord?
Wife: No matter. It’s all the same to me.

Well, dear lady, at the risk of being a nerd (oh what the hell, I already AM a nerd. And a geeky one at that), they aren’t the same thing. To wit:

·         String is material twisted together to form a thin length.

·         Twine is strong thread of two or more strands twisted together.

·         Cord is strong strands woven together into a length.

·         Rope is heavy cord.

And that’s about the size of it.

Oh, except that the largest twine ball ever assembled is 41 feet six inches around. It is displayed at Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Branson, Missouri. Apparently this millionaire – J.C. Payne of Valley View, Texas, had nothing better to do than build the darned thing. It took four years.

I kid you not.