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Re:Who Was the Buddha? by edgarvaldes on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @07:12PM (#21830845)
> but it appears that most native speakers understood "carpenter" to mean "house builder".

In Latin-America we use a very similar word: "carpintero" with the same origin. But the houses in the region are commonly made of concrete brick, so we don't associate "carpenter" with "house builder".

Re:Who Was the Buddha? by navaati on Thursday December 19, 2019 @05:35AM (#21833653)
Well in French, "charpente" refers to the frame of the house, and the first thing you think about is a wooden frame, though in modern times it could be steel. A stone house wouldn’t really have a "charpente" I guess. And oftentimes "charpente" specifically means the roof structure (which is the only frame left in modern brick or concrete houses).
Re:Who Was the Buddha? by abecode on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:20PM (#21831772)
My brother is a carpenter and works with a lot of Latinos. He also does birdwatching as a hobby. Supposedly carpintero is also what they call woodpeckers.
Re:Who Was the Buddha? by cambalache on Thursday December 19, 2019 @01:30AM (#21832501)
That's correct. But usually it's called "pajaro carpintero". Woody Woodpecker is called "El pajaro loco" though.