Subj : to pull the door to against
To   : Paul Quinn
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Sat Dec 28 2019 14:20:36

Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

PQ>  What are the possible conditions for a door to remain
PQ>  at rest: open or closed.


           Hmm.  Unless a door is completely open or closed, it may not remain 
as you left it... and according to my CANADIAN OXFORD DICTIONARY "pull to" may 
be used when a boat or a bus comes to a stop in a predetermined location.  :-)



PQ>  From the inside, we push a door open; or, pull a door
PQ>  closed.


           That's what I found confusing here.  In Canada the doors of private 
residences generally open inward, but the doors of public buildings & suchlike 
generally open outward because of some emergency years ago in which folks were 
crushed by the mass of others who in their panic didn't realize the person who 
got to the door first needed to be allowed enough space to open it.  Since you 
live in the southern hemisphere, where everything is upside down, YMMV.  And I 
know very little about how things were done in Long Island a century ago.  :-Q



PQ>  Pull door, door closes.  Silly isn't it.  :)


           Problem solved (maybe).  With a bit of research I found out that to 
some folks at least what matters is not the direction of travel toward or away 
from any humans involved but how close the object is to its designated target. 
When we "pull a door to", we bring it closer to the door frame.  I guess "pull 
to" makes more sense from the door's POV than it did from mine at first.

           I learned something today, thanks to you.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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