English is a language that is constantly evolving. One of these errors happens to be our social concept of chewing gum. To me, there’s nothing worse than calling a piece of gum “a stick of gum”. Gum is not a stick, it is a slice of gum. Their English language has its share of flaws and inconsistencies just
like any other procedure going through upgrades. It is a matter of choosing which word/ phrase best suits the gum description. You must ask yourself what is a unit of a substance? It’s a slice, a rectangle. It’s a 2D-looking shape that barely passes as a 3d object.
During a long day at school, you might find yourself longing for a simple and pure delicious slice of gum. It wasn’t until many people questioned the connotations of my word choice, “slice of gum”, that I considered the error between the phrase “stick of gum” because the word “stick” fails to match a soft cohesive substance. Generally, a stick usually refers to a noun that is solid and dense in texture, like a human being, a stick of butter, or a stick of cheese. Instead of calling gum a stick, words like sliver and slice accurately represent the product.
Calling a piece of a gum a slice should be socially acceptable -obviously theres no harm if you call it either title but I just think the the other two words paint the wrong picture of what gum actually is. Not to mention, a slice of gum deserves more thoughtfulness from all the gum chewers who call it “piece of gum” . They are conformists. Conforming with the word piece is a sluggish way to deal with our English language, it doesn’t promote growth or master the English language correctly. However slice not only sounds right but provides a background story to each sliver we chew on. A junior in SAS, Praxedis Valesco gets it, as he has said “ It is a slice but we have lowered its meaning to a piece”
What about calling gum a piece? In theory, every object has been a piece of something. So why use the vague expression to describe gum, when the word slice carries so much description of the type of gum you want. Usually, when a person asks for gum they aren’t referring to a gumball or a PIECE of your Hubba Bubba roll, People’s expectations on gum should be a gently wrapped slice of Wrigley, trident, 5 gum, or whatever preferred gum you chew on.
GLOSSARY
Sliv·er
-
a small, thin piece of something cut or split off from a larger piece.
“a sliver of cheese”
stick1
-
a thin piece of wood that has fallen or been cut from a tree.
a long, thin piece of something.
