Poles apart

June 5th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

“Pole” and “pull” aren’t exactly homonyms, but they sound similar enough to cause some confusion.

For example, the village of Cherry Valley has some old buildings it needs to do something with. They’re “pole barns,” not “pull barns.” If you conduct a Google search for “pull barn,” you will find some examples of this erroneous usage. But mostly you’ll get “pole barns.”

They are so named because traditionally their structure involves poles set in the ground.

I don’t have a clue what sort of “pull” would be needed to build a “pull barn.” It probably would have to be political.

Entry Filed under: homonyms, word choices