What do you associate with the word 'base'?

[Torsten]

The interesting thing about the English language is that most words have several meanings some of which can be quite contradicting.

Now, what do you think about first when you hear the word 'base'? I'll tell you later why I'm asking this question.

Thanks a lot,
Torsten

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[Jamie (K)]

I think foundation, military installation, crude manners, a plastic Lego slab, the bottom-priced product offered by a company, and a lot of other things.

[Alan]

Hi Torsten.

It's often used as a noun in a conversational sense to describe 'home', obviously deriving from the military meaning. 'See you back at base' can be heard to mean 'see you back at home'. Interestingly a well known chain store selling mainly things for the home from gardening items to baths is called HOMEBASE.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Foah]

It´s also used in chemistry for an alkaline fluid. But what Torsten has in mind, I imagine, is a female relative (i.e the female cousin....at least in German), haven´t you?

However, I agree with Torsten´s first sentence in the intial post. I´ve never thought about that before I started learning English.

Michael
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"Ho ho!" said the clown

[Torsten]

Hi Alan, Jamie and Michael,

Thanks a lot for your responses. I was thinking of a product line offered by a mobile phone company in Germany. It's called 'base' and has been advertised pretty heavily for a quite a while now.

TOEIC listening, talks: A radio traffic update