popular vs famous
Who taught : Jake
Honda Civic
Popular and famous….
Is anyone out there who does not know what these words mean? I doubt it.Ā In English-Korean dictionary, they have almost same meaning in Korean. It is pretty hard to distinguish each other. I am not sure how they are in other countries’ dictionaries.
Yesterday, I made a mistake with these words. It was a very subtle thing but Jake taught me the correct usage of the words.
After we had dinner together, Pat, Jake, Carol, Mark and me started to walk to the street where we all parked. As we were approaching to the cars, we realized that there are so many people who have Honda Civic in our company. Pat has Civic SI which he really loves. (I mean he is really into it.) Jake has Civic Hybrid. Kara has Civic coupe. Jessy has a regular 4-door Civic. Wow, I realized another thing, writing this. We have all different kinds of Civics we could have in our company. It is such a practical and fuel-efficient car. In addition, reliability is so great that you can easily drive it more than 100,000 miles without any major issue. So, if you are now considering buying a car, I would totally recommend it to you. Well, so, yesterday, I said, “I think Civic is the most famous car in our company.” Hearing it, Jake told me, “T-Bone, you should say the most popular car in our company.” Till that moment, I was not sure what is the difference. “Why? What is wrong with famous?” said I. Jake added, “So, for instance, I would say ‘Ferrari is the most famous car in the world.’ But, when you are tying to describe that many people like and have Civic, I would say, ‘Civic is the most popular car in the company.'” By hearing Jake’s examples, I was able to catch the subtle difference of the two words. Could you also understand? Interesting, isn’t it? Maybe, if I was writing, I would be able to find the proper word but it is again hard to find and use the proper word in speaking. Sigh! But, I really appreciate Jake’s help to make my English better and preciser.
Saying that the Ferrari is the most “famous” car in the world seems a little weird to me too. Famous seems more like a term used for personification. So, the only cars that I think would be “famous” are specific cars like Herbie or the Delorean from Back to the Future.
I guess there’s also “Sammy’s Famous Corned Beef”, which isn’t a single entity or a person. I guess recipes can be famous too. I really don’t know what the complete distinction is š
Hmm … when you’re not talking about a specific person or animal (like Lassie or Mr. Ed would be considered famous), maybe it’s when something is “known for” something else. I’m thinking about Jerome being “famous” for inappropriate comments. Or even a specific incident could be “famous”, like when Carol “famously” spoke for the first time with her “welcome to the 3rd grade” quip.
I don’t know if that helps or makes it harder, Terry!
I agree that the Ferrari example sounds a little weird. I think part of the reason it sounds weird is because it’s not specific. There are tons of Ferraris in the world, and they change over time. There was only Herbie, one Delorean in Back to the Future. Sammy’s Famous Corned Beef doesn’t change with each model year. It doesn’t come in different colors with different options.
I think fame, in general, has a lot to do with scope. Generally, I think of fame as something that a lot of people know about given the scope of what it is.
So, Carol’s quote is famous because most of the people working here have heard about it and think it’s funny. I don’t think most people working here have considered the fact that a lot of people in the company drive Civics.
I think the other piece of fame is that, within the scope of whatever it is, a lot of people need to share an opinion about it. So, for the Civic example, not everybody in the company thinks of them as a desirable car. The people who drive them like them, but the rest of us don’t care.
This is perfect! Thanks for your good explanation here! So, if it turns out that almost everybody likes Civic in our company, then it is famous, right?
I think it would take more than everyone liking Civics for them to be considered famous in our company. I can’t really think of any scenario where it would make sense to say the Civic is a famous car within the company. It’s not specific enough to be labeled ‘famous’. If only one person drove a very unusual Civic, then maybe you could say it was famous. For example, if you had a custom-painted pink Civic, I think it would make sense to refer to it as Terry’s famous pink Civic.
If everyone in the company drove a Civic, then people outside the company might say that our company was famous for all its employees driving Civics.
Maybe you really should look into getting a pink car:
http://www.familyhomesecurity.com/car-thieves-picky-about-color/
Man, that car is cute. Trust me! If there were any pink cars, I would really consider to buy it.
Man, your example is really good for me to understand the difference!
That really helps! Then, I know I am popular but what am I famous for? š
I have a Civic too! Civic friends!
That is right! If Phil were working at the company, then I would have added up your Civic in my list. š
Ooooohhhh burn!
Pingback: sunday dinner at Browns Hill Bible Chapel | Learning English from Friends (LEfF)
It’s was quite an intriguing story because I don’t think Japanese find it difficult to distinguish the meaning of “famous” and “popular.”
I didn’t know Civic is so popular over there, then where is Toyota? how about Hyundai? My partner has been a owner of Toyota hybrid car called Estima for about 10 years and he is totally satisfied with his car. Toyota’s cars are still famous for its liability among my friends, so I’m annoyed sometimes to read some reports of accidents involving Toyota.
(I hope my way of useing “popular” and “famour” is correct.^^;)
Thanks for the interesting stories always!
Good to see you again, Emmie! I wonder what your Japanese name is, though. Do you mind tell me later? Your example really clarifies the meaning of those two words. Isn’t Civic popular in Japan too? It is such a nice car. Regarding Toyota, I think people here still buy a lot of Toyotas after that issue with brake here. I used to have a Camry about 3 years ago and I actually had the same brake problem but I liked the car a lot. Thanks for your good example again!
Hi Terry,
Ok, my Japanese first name is Noriko, oh such a plain name… My last name is a very rare one, maybe less than fifty people share it and it’s quite easy to track me down by that last name, so I don’t usually let people know my last name on the net unless I build a long term friendship. Hope you’ll understand it.^^ Where does your English name, Terry, come from? I chose “emmie” because my maiden name sounds just like it, so some English-speaking people naturally started to call me by that name.
Yes, needless to say, Civic is quite popular and because it’s so popular that it doesn’t catch my attention anymore, I guess. Good to hear nothing serious happened while you were driving on Toyota. Have you ever experienced Hybrid? I love that quietness and smoothness. If not, give it a try^^
It’s terribly hot here in Tokyo and I’m way behind my schedule, from house errands to my hobby, so I haven’t introduced your blog yet to my friends but I definitely want my friends to visit your blog, so please keep on good work and I’d love to know more about general tiny aspects of your ordinary life which takes place at work, house, and your neighborhood.
Thank you!
P.S. As a learner of English, I’m now try to improve my “fluency,” and not to worry too much about “accuracy,” so there will be tons of weird expressions and some grammatical mistakes in my writing. I hope you’ll go easy on them and just skim through my comment.
Your English is amazing as far as I can tell from your writing. Have you ever been to any English speaking countries for studying or something else? You must have been because your writing is pretty good. Thanks for letting me know your first name! What does it mean, though? Actually, I got my English name from one of old Japanese Cartoons. Can you guess? I will let you guess this time š I will do my best to keep up with your expectation. One thing I can say is that I am really enjoying writhing this blog. Hope many people can learn from my terrible mistakes! See you soon!
P.S.: I am not a big fan of quiet cars. Instead, I like fast cars. For example, the car that I am driving now is Mazda Miata.
I thought you were not interested in car at all. Since when did you take an interest in it? š
I feel something great was missed because we couldn’t enjoy and share the same interests together in korea. š
I’ve been participating in dragrace every year since 2004 and i recently
competed and got a low ranked, 32th of 65. š
I want to have a dragrace with you and experience your skill one day. š
You think we can have it soon?
I hope so.
Come to U.S. and let’s do autocross together.