Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 415. The title of today's lesson is the
difference between timber and lumber. Yeah.
I've been asked this question a couple of times in the past and this one is
actually a little difficult even for a native speaker to, to be able to distinguish.
So this took a little research to check and make sure that this was correct. So
anyway, let's let's look at some notes for some ways that you can distinguish
between how you should use one or the other.
All right. Now especially in American English. Let me start with first part. Timber is a tree
that has been cut down, but has not been processed into lumber. So when they first
cut down the tree and they're putting it on the truck and they're transporting
and you know to the lumberyard to the place where it's going to be processed it
is still timber. Or however they do it. I've seen in the past sometimes they'll
put it on a river or whatever and sail down. However they do it that's still in
the timber form. So we usually consider if the bark. The bark is like you know,
the outside skin of the tree. If the bark is still on the tree, it is timber. Lumber
has had the bark removed. Okay. That's a good point.
What could make things a little confusing though is in the US and Canada
lumber is used to refer to the cut wooden boards you know, like two by fours,
four by eights. However, in Australia and the UK, the
timber is used for the same thing. So I think in the UK and Australia. , you could use
either timber or lumber for this, but in the US we would not use the word
timber for this,. So this is this is why it could get a little confusing, Even if you have like
different teachers, they might give you slightly different explanations, even if
they understand it themselves. So let's continue. In regard to commercial
business like when it's sold. You know, business transactions the word lumber is
most commonly used. Like we didn't say somebody bought timber like to build a
house, we would usually say they bought lumber to build a house. Good . All right . And
just some other things to know. You know, a lumberjack is a person who has the job
of cutting down the trees. Okay. A lumber yard is a business that sells
the wood products where they are stocked and sold. So basically again, the timber is
brought to the lumber yard. They take the bark off and they cut it
into you know, nice even pieces. You know, two by fours, four by eight or whatever
it is. You know, The board that's needed for building. So that's... they do that at
the lumber yard. Okay. Good. Now also another strange though you know , is the word
timber is used as a warning that is yelled out to make to , make sure of
people are aware that a tree is about to fall. So if you ever seen some movies too.
They're cutting it down and as the trees about to fall, you usually hear somebody
yell timber ! You know, like get out of the way. The tree is about to fall because I
guess you know trees unfortunately have fallen on people and injured and kill
them before. So this is another way timber is used. Timber is used as the
warning that the tree is about to fall. Okay. And here just to try to clarify
it more, I give you a couple of the example sentences. The timber was loaded
on to a flatbed truck and brought in a lumberyard. So they cut it you know,
in the wild or in the woods and they put it on the truck and they brought it to
the lumberyard to be processed. Okay and here somebody might say I
bought some lumber from a lumberyard in order to build a shed. Okay. Anyway, I hope
this clarifies it for you. I hope it's informative. Thank you for
your time. Bye-bye.