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Settle a bet for me: Do you know these words?

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No one uses those words. You should end your friendship with this person. My advice.

Bough Yes Promontory No

Not a native English speaker but it's the only language I currently know now.
 
Yes to knowing both, but would never use either in day to day conversation. I might use them in writing a book however.

Native English speaker from Washington State
 
Native english speaker, from Ohio US.

I know both; I have a pretty extensive vocabulary.

Bough is not unheard of, but it isn't super common. Any one who knows rock-a-bye baby will know bough. If someone didn't know it I wouldn't be surprised.

Promontory, is not a common word at all and I would not expect people to know it.
 
Native english speaker from Ireland, knew both words without issue:

Bough: Branch (as in the nursery rhyme)
Promontory: The kind of raised land (often with cliff) where you'd build a fort. I've also heard it used to describe piers.
 
I'm a native English speaker (U.S.), and I've definitely seen/heard them both before, but no way could I give you a definition on the spot for either of them. Although I guess if I heard it spoken in context, I could probably catch on that bough is referring to a tree-related thing or a branch of some kind.

(Actually the only context I can think of for when I've heard "promontory" is a sniper rifle in Destiny called Glass Promontory, lol)
 
Bough: Yes, but only ever said or heard as part of the nursery rhyme. Never used it outside of that context.

Promontory: Yes, due to Wilsons Promontory, just up the coast in Melbourne where I live. Never heard the term before I moved here.

UK English.
 
I think I know both of them.

Promontory is like a peninsula or a cape? I think it has to be a certain altitude though.

Bough I am certain the predominate branch of a tree.

US English. 29 years old.
 
Bough - Yes, it's a tree branch. I know because of the rhyme. I don't think I've ever heard it used outside of the rhyme though.

Promontory - Yes, it's a sticking-out part of land near the water. I might lose points by not knowing it's exact definition or how it differs from similar formations, but I ain't a geologist. I'm sure I've read it in books as part of terrain descriptions since I was about ten years old.


I live in Canada, near trees and water, but I don't think that had anything to do with it because I learned these words from common-as-dirt American literature. Kids these days don't read books anymore.

English language native, which likely helps with the "reading books" part.
 
I heard of both easily but I devoured books when I grew up so I tended to have a larger vocabulary. Bough would be common enough especially since its used in nursery rhymes and such. Promontory I've heard used before but again not sure if the average person is as aware of it.
 
Know both and used promontory in speaking when I was on a hike during the summer (we were hiking out to a promontory). I never use bough because I try to dodge using too many homonyms that are uncommon because it's likely to just cause more confusion than get the point across.

Also, amazed that everyone relates bough to the nursery rhyme and not Deck the Halls (with boughs of holly) as that was where I first heard and learned that word as a child.

Native English speaker from Oregon.
 
Yes to both, native English speaker (USA). I'm a writer, though, so it's kind of my job to know a bit more.

And while I've never actually used promontory in a conversation, I would expect most English speakers to know bough. It's not that uncommon.
 
Native English speaker, live in England.
Never heard of either of them.

Oh wait, "bough breaks" is from that nursery rhyme?
Yeah, I've heard of that.
 
Native speaker. American.

As I'm sure others have mentioned I know "bough" from the Rock-a-Bye Baby nursery rhyme, plus Deck the Halls. I know "promontory" from John Donne:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Click to expand...

I have probably come across both words elsewhere, but those associations are really strong for me.

I wouldn't expect most people to know promontory, but "bough" is probably widely known.
 
Sure do. Tree bough is the first, though I'm finding promontory a bit hard to define. Like, a projection sort of thing, can be natural or architecture, I wanna say? (Just checked, google says it's a cliff face, usually over water. Well.)

For what it's worth, I agree with you. I read voraciously for twenty years, that's the only reason I know them. I wouldn't expect anyone else to know them offhand.

Edit - Native english speaker.
 
I knew them but couldn't specify exactly what a promontory was (I knew it referred to some type of land near sea though). Native speaker.
 
Okay, not looking... But bough is like a tree limb.

And promontory sounds familiar.. maybe a vocab word from school years or something?
I always thought of it as a special building where serious things happen, but I think the meaning was more in line with it having to do with a certain position or area on top of a mountain or cliff, or something?

Posting and checking the thread now.
 
Bough is for sure because of the nursery rhyme. Native English speakers would overwhelming know that word.

I'll agree with you on promontory, but the coasts probably know it well enough.

EDIT: Native English speaker in the US Midwest.
 
I don't know the lyrics to lullabies or Christmas songs, only the melody is recognizable.

I've probably come across the words in books but I've never used them or heard them in any conversation ever.

So no, at most those words are words I've seen before but cannot remember their meanings.

I am a native English speaker.
 
Know bough, from the rhyme and from Austenian literature.

Promontory I'm more shaky on. I thought it was architecture but that's promenade.

Native speaker
 
Yes, I knew both, but you can guess from my user name that I have some advantages with written English. I'm a professor. Native speaker.

Edit: I'm from the American South but live in the American Midwest. I'm 34.
 
Native speaker, Australian, Yes to both but they are not commonly used words.

Bough is used in the aforementioned rhyme.

Promontory is part of a place name not far from where I live, Wilsons Promontory though it's more commonly shortened to Wilsons Prom or just The Prom.
 
There is a place in Victoria, Australia called Wilsons Promontory (no apostrophe), so people around here might be more likely to know than most. But I didn't know the specific meaning as a native speaker.
 
when-the-bough-breaks-movie-poster-1993-1020211164.jpg

when_the_bough_breaks.jpg

8170592.jpg


Tv taught me everything I know.
 
I knew them, yeah.

Native French speaker, which trivialized promontory because for some reason its strict equivalent (promontoire) seems much more prominent in French. It doesn't come up often but you're bound to have heard it enough.
 
From the US and I do not know either word.
EDIT - Actually okay yeah I do know bough.
I am guessing from the replies it is more of a UK English terminology.
 
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