Language Quirk/Definition Poll Time!

[donutsweeper]

I am curious what people think about this (and will explain why I am asking this under the cut but please answer the poll before looking)

Poll #34281 Primary

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Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

In your opinion, when something is listed as "the primary" of something, it is....

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the most important or well known
5 (71.4%)

the first (timeline-wise)
2 (28.6%)

something else
0 (0.0%)

Okay, so recently I was doing a survey and it asked "Who was the primary drummer for The Beatles?" and while I am not a Beatles fan, via osmosis I knew that there were four of them (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr) and that Ringo was the drummer but then scrolled down only to find it offered the following three choices: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Pete Best.

I had never heard of Pete Best but knew the other options were incorrect so clicked him and was told I got the answer correct. After googling I learned Pete Best was the first 'official' drummer for The Beatles ('official' in the sense that it seems like they'd played with random drummers here and there but he was the first to actually join the band and *was* a Beatle from 1960-mid 1962 when they fired him and hired Ringo just before recording the record that catapulted them to fame and remained with them until the band broke up).

All the dictionaries I looked at gave multiple definitions for "primary." Amongst the definitions were always something to the effect of 'first in order of events/sequence' as well as 'most important or well known' although where those two were placed in the list of definitions wasn't always the same.

So, technically, Pete Best was the primary drummer for The Beatles using the 'first in order' definition but probably not if using the 'most important' since I think most people would consider Ringo Starr the better known Beatles drummer.

So that leads to poll #2:

Poll #34282 Primary, take two

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Who would you consider the primary drummer for The Beatles? (either by previous knowledge or as their history is described above)

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Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Ringo Starr
4 (100.0%)

Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

and then poll #3

Poll #34283 Primary, take 3

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

How did your response to #2 compare to #1?

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Most important or well known + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Most important or well known + Ringo Starr
4 (100.0%)

Most important or well known + Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

First (timeline-wise) + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

First (timeline-wise) + Ringo Starr
0 (0.0%)

First (timeline-wise) + Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Pete Best
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Ringo Starr
0 (0.0%)

Something else + Don't Know/Unsure
0 (0.0%)

I was honestly a bit thrown by their use of 'primary' in the poll. While, of course, it *can* mean first in a question like that I interpreted that they were asking for most well known instead and was curious about what others thought of this.

Anyway, thoughts?

Comments

[awanderingbard]

So, primary for me would never mean 'first'. In the first poll, I put 'most well known/important' because that made sense to me without context, but in the context of 'who is the primary drummer of the Beatles', I would assume 'primary' to mean 'the person who did it most often/contributed the most'. I did know about Pete Best, so I would assume primary drummer meant Ringo Starr, because he was with them for the longest time. I was going to say 'like primary care physician', but now I consider it, it could be me misinterpreting that, and what it means is 'first physician you to go with a problem' where as I take it 'physician I see most often'. So maybe more like 'primary source', like 'primary source of pollution' meaning 'the biggest source' or 'primary source of information' meaning 'the one I used the most in gathering my facts' or 'primary caregiver' meaning 'the one doing most of the care'.

I suppose though, in the sense you use 'primary' in the States to decide who's going to run for office, that probably means 'first' in that context? Like the 'first vote'. But if you said 'primary candidate' I would assume 'the main candidate for the job', so...language is weird, I guess. But fun! Language is one of my hyperfixation/special interests, so these kind of questions are very fun to me.

[donutsweeper]

Oh yeah, primary does have a lot of other meanings, some dictionaries gave 5 or 6 different ones. For it meaning 'first' they gave examples like 'primary stage of evolution' (or development, something like that) but like you, when I see the word I think most know/important/contributed the most.

Glad you found it interesting too, I love thinking about these kinds of things and delving into the little details of language :)

[trobadora]

Yeah, "primary" is a bit ambiguous and can mean first/original sometimes, but in this context I'd definitely interpret it as most prominent.