churning waters

I think that "swirling" might be more appropriate but I think it would depend on the ferocity of the swirling. If it's at the bottom of the Niagra Falls for instance, then I think that "churning" might be OK.

Personally I would PREFER this to describe water in a river.

The reason is that seawater seems to have no boundaries.

When I think of ''churning'' I think of a fluid within a certain defined boundary. For instance ''stomach churning'' is a common phrase in English.

Obviously this describes fluids within a set periphery.

ok cool thanks
i was worried because one online dictionary translated above combination of words as something like "the billowing sea"
and most online finds seem to be biblical refering to the great deluge or something.

{quote:title=Count_Zero wrote:}{quote
When I think of ''churning'' I think of a fluid within a certain defined boundary. For instance ''stomach churning'' is a common phrase in English.

Obviously this describes fluids within a set periphery.

I would agree. The most direct concrete use of churn would be in churning butter or cheese, and butter is churned within a butter churn or some other container. You get butter by forcing milk to move within the confines of a container, whether it's a jar or a churn. The other senses of the word, like stomach churning, most likely derive from this direct usage.

So, indeed, mathilda, water in a river can certainly churn.

"Billowing" would be an entirely different usage. Possibly the translation was simply exchanging one metaphoric or poetic usage for another, but billowing and churning are not synonymous, other than in a generic sense of describing movement. Curtains and skirts billow, butter churns.

{quote:title=mathilda wrote:}{quote}
and most online finds seem to be biblical refering to the great deluge or something.

In this context, I think the point of using "churning" would be precisely to describe the dramatic effect of a flood on the land, of water hitting rock or soil with great force and churning as a result. Churning is not just movement, it's circular movement, that the liquid hits one side of the container and the collision forces it back. A Jacuzzi or hot tub with jets on could be described as churning. A wave crashing against the sand probably does not churn, a wave hitting a rocky shoreline could be described as churning. It's the rebound that makes it churning, so it implies impact on a solid substance or surface.

The whole point of Biblical descriptions of the Great Flood is not just, wow, what a lot of water. It's, "Holy smokes, think about all that water on YOUR HOUSE! On YOUR YARD! Think about how much that is so totally going to wreck your landscaping! Any plans you may have had for that real estate, gone, wiped out by more tons of water than you can possibly imagine." So using "churning" in that sense gets the message across (at least to generations who would have known what a churn was and how it works) and makes it personal, brings it home, to the people hearing the story of the Flood, in a way that "flood" or "deluge" does not. Descriptions of the Biblical flood would be purposely intended to convey the notion of water where it's not supposed to be, which then makes the listener imagine the destruction. The sea, on the other hand, IS where it's supposed to be, and mostly does not churn.

White water in a river around the rocks definitely churns. In the sea I would only say it churns where it hits gaps between rocks and roils around a bit before going back out again. In the open sea I haven't seen the water doing what I would call churning.

can someone be making a lot of op's in a period of three days be posting like churning water? ;p

just churning out questions as if there was nothing to it, orange. (in reality it is hard work to think up all these questions for you all to cogitate about. Oh the tomes I belabour, the dictionaries I consult, the trashy television I watch and the infinite detail I hone out in my head thereafter just to come up with perfectly inane sounding questions about "car shops"!)

thanks for the pictorial description turnips, i imagine the whole implications of the word very well now.
and i decided to ditch the dodgy dictionary.

Edited by: mathilda