Question
Updated on
1 Jun 2020
- Korean
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English (US)
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Vietnamese
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Japanese
Question about English (US)
odds and ends
knick knacks
is there any differemce?
odds and ends
knick knacks
is there any differemce?
knick knacks
is there any differemce?
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1 Jun 2020
Featured answer
- English (US)
@luckyall
odds and ends => "we bought batteries for the radio and a few other odds and ends"
synonym: bits and pieces
knick knack: a small worthless object, especially a household ornament.
=>"the room was filled with tables, knickknacks, and a large three-piece suite"
I have heard both of them, so I don't know which one is more common.
I can't say which one is more casual then the other. So there is a small difference.
I think "knick knack" is more for small things that is used for decoration to make the house look nice.
And "odds & ends" are things that are useful (not used for decoration), and bigger, but of course small things can be useful too. I know there is a store called Odd & Ends Furniture.
I will let you decide which one to use.
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- English (US)
Not really, it just means extra little miscellaneous stuff.
For example,
People sometimes avoid complicated hobbies like model building because it requires a lot of knick knacks like paint brushes, air brush, air compressor, sand paper, glue, glue tips, toothpicks, knife with many different types of blades, etc.
So similarly, you can use “olds and ends” in the same sentence
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- Korean
@adao2001 do both words have the identical level of bad nuances?
for example, Let's say you found a few things such as a ring and a will, a photo of a family from a pocket of your battle field comrade.
those keepsakes are technically not expensive. but they are not meaningless to you.
in that case, is it okay to use any of those 2 words to not degrade the comrade?
eg- I brought some (knick knacks/odds and ends) of him and gave them to his family.
for example, Let's say you found a few things such as a ring and a will, a photo of a family from a pocket of your battle field comrade.
those keepsakes are technically not expensive. but they are not meaningless to you.
in that case, is it okay to use any of those 2 words to not degrade the comrade?
eg- I brought some (knick knacks/odds and ends) of him and gave them to his family.
- English (US)
@luckyall yes, I don’t think I will use it in this case out of respect. I can’t think of the right words.
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- English (US)
I think you can use keepsakes because to the family it is valuable and they want to keep those items as a memory.
I found his possessions and gave them as keepsake for his family.
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- Korean
@adao2001 hmm, could you elaborate on the undertone of the two words? are they really that negative?
@adao2001 hmm, could you elaborate on the undertone of the two words? are they really that negative?
- English (US)
It is more casual, like you said, things that don’t matter too much, miscellaneous. Maybe my example is not good because all the hobby items are essential for the hobby.
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- Korean
- English (US)
@luckyall
odds and ends => "we bought batteries for the radio and a few other odds and ends"
synonym: bits and pieces
knick knack: a small worthless object, especially a household ornament.
=>"the room was filled with tables, knickknacks, and a large three-piece suite"
I have heard both of them, so I don't know which one is more common.
I can't say which one is more casual then the other. So there is a small difference.
I think "knick knack" is more for small things that is used for decoration to make the house look nice.
And "odds & ends" are things that are useful (not used for decoration), and bigger, but of course small things can be useful too. I know there is a store called Odd & Ends Furniture.
I will let you decide which one to use.
Was this answer helpful?
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