You think you've got cobbles?
And the rock just rolls back down the hill again.
My suspicions are aroused every time a writer in search of local color refers to “cobblestoned streets,” because the writer seldom if ever understands what cobblestones are and how they differ from other paving stones. I took one such reference out tonight, with a certainty that it will not be the last.
Cobblestones are made from cobbles, stones naturally rounded by the action of water. If the paving stones in that quaint little street are flat, or merely irregular rather than rounded, they aren’t cobblestones. Over time, most cobblestones were replaced with other paving stones, because traveling over cobblestones is a little like driving on cannonballs.
At the risk of repeating myself — and that’s a risk you share in every time you visit this site — I refer you to the "Stones unturned" post from July 2007.
Put your shoulder to it, and we'll try to roll this one back up the hill again.
Comments
I rode and walked on cobblestoned streets when I lived in Germany many years ago. Just walking on them is an exercise in auto-shiatsu-massage.
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | December 15, 2008 4:37 PM
And "cobblestone" is so different from "whom" ?
Posted by: tjh | December 15, 2008 4:45 PM
For the next lesson, a discussion of the derivation of Cobleskill.
(I grew up near Cobleskill, N.Y.)
Posted by: Barbara Phillips Long | December 15, 2008 10:14 PM
If cobbles are stones naturally rounded by water, then isn't "cobblestones" like saying "stone stones"?
Posted by: Rosslyn Kooser | December 16, 2008 4:36 PM
Then, how did the phrase, cobbled together come about?
Posted by: Eve | December 17, 2008 9:35 AM
"Then, how did the phrase, cobbled together come about?"
Probably something to do with a Cobbler rather than a Stonemason.
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | December 17, 2008 12:56 PM