Poll: 'Draw the curtains' means?

[arknor]

It depends on the current state of the curtains?

JOSEPH:
I close my eyes, drew back the curtain
To see for certain, what I thought I knew

Far far away, someone was weeping
But the world was sleeping
Any dream will do

Read more: Joseph - Any Dream Will Do Lyrics | MetroLyrics

in the song he's clearly opening them

 

[Tefal]

The oposite of what they are now

 

[danza]

But...but...what if one curtain is open and the other closed? Do we get stuck in an infinite loop?

 

[schumi84]

I've always believed it to be option 2, however I do experience moments of madness when I use the term to open them as well.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

2 (close).

Those that voted 1 (open) and 3 (both) are basement-dwellers

 

[Thorien]

Draw means pull doesn't it? So it could mean pull open or pull close. So both!

 

[Nitefly]

It's both.

 

[thebennyboy]

I've always thought it is both opening and closing the curtains. Another discussion worthy topic.

 

[ThePirateHulk]

It's clearly both. I never even considered that anybody would ever think otherwise.

It's a bit like asking if "cross the road" means to go from the left hand pavement to the right or vice versa.

 

[Rroff]

It's clearly both. I never even considered that anybody would ever think otherwise.

It's a bit like asking if "cross the road" means to go from the left hand pavement to the right or vice versa.

Yeah - however atleast around where I've been brought up its common usage that the unqualified use of drawing the curtains means to close and its only used in the context of opening when qualified i.e. "to draw back the curtains" - going by the poll that is fairly widespread.

A closer analogue would be to "switch the light" - which sounds silly if used in the same way.

 

[Reality|Bites]

Draw closer together....So close them?

 

[Cosimo]

Just undrawn ours.

 

[inogen]

Of course it's both.

If someone asked you to draw closed curtains, you'd know what to do.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

All the old people say close and we had the word first

 

[Greebo]

It's both. ALways has been

 

[mjt]

The oposite of what they are now

Indeed.

Draw the curtains can mean to both open and close them, depending on their current state.

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/curtain

draw/pull/close the curtains (=move them together): Draw the curtains and put the light on.

draw/pull/open the curtains (=move them apart): Draw those heavy curtains and let some sunlight in.

 

[wordy]

Both in our house.

 

[MadMouse101]

Both

 

[ubersonic]

It means both, it's a change of state, it depends what state they are already in.

 

[Mat]

Hang on, I'll go and ask the butler.