"copy machine" vs "copying machine"

[Nessie]

Hi,
Please have a look at this:
The part-time clerk in the copy center didn't know how to add paper to the copying machine

Which is wrong and why? I personally find the phrase "the copy center" fishy and think it should be "the copy/copying department". Am I correct?

Besides, which is more natural: "copy machine" or "copying machine"? "copy department" or "copying department"? I"m rather confused because I found 5 results for "copying machine", 3 results for "copy machine" but 3 results for "copy department" and only 1 for "copying department"

Regards
Nessie
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Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Molly]

copy machine = a machine for producing/making copies
copying machine = a machine for copying documents

Same thing, in the end.

copy center = a place where you can produce/make copies
copying center = a place for copying documents

IMO

[Nessie]

Oh, so what's the difference after all? And you haven't given the answer of the original question: which is wrong?
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... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Prezbucky]

To avoid this issue, use "copier" instead.

"Jim made copies using his office's copier."
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[Molly]

[Molly]

[Prezbucky]

Molly, nah, to me "copier center" sounds weird.

I'd call it a "copy room" or "copier room" maybe.

And to describe a group of copiers, I'd use something like "pack" or "pride" -- "Jim, I'm headed for the copier room to see if one of the copier pack has finally been fixed."

hehe
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Nessie]

And what about "copy center", "copying center", "copy department", and "copying department", Prezbucky?
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Inga]

Two more words: photocopier/Xerox machine , and why not copy/copying centre? If it is an office like we have in our country.
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I am an incurable optimist.

[Molly]

Which is more common?

24-hour copy-center.
24-hour copying center.

[Prezbucky]

The first option
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[Prezbucky]

nessie

My head wasn't on straight yesterday, and i completely forgot "copy center" -- this is another good way to refer to the place in an office in which copies are made. (or simply a room with [a] copier[s], with or without the office).

I'm thinking that a copy room might be (generally) somewhat smaller than a copy center -- I picture one or two copiers working in a copy room, while the standard copy center may have more than five.

...but this is an exercise in splitting hairs and depends on the eye of the beholder, at that -- I didn't state a rule, but an opinion/preference, regarding the difference between "center" and "room".
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[Prezbucky]

I would never call my room at home a "center"; IE, I'll never go to sleep in my "center". That sounds retarded.

But when copiers congregate, they can turn a regular old room (albeit most likely a large one) into a center.

hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

[quote="nessie"]Hi,
Please have a look at this:
1. The part-time clerk in the copy center didn't know how to add paper to the copying machine.

This sentence is fine as it stands. But if a problem has to be discovered, I would first exclude "part-time clerk" and "paper", as we can't put other words in their place without changing the meaning.

"Part-time clerk" seems to imply a stranger, and thus a print shop in the high street, as opposed to e.g. the photocopying room in an office; "copy center" is fine, in that context.

So that leaves "copying machine" as the possible problem. Perhaps the question-setter preferred the everyday word "photocopier". (If someone referred to a "copying machine" in an everyday context such as this, I would assume that they'd forgotten the right word.)

For the other choices:

a) the copy department / the copying department ] These suggest a department devoted to printing services within an organisation. I would expect the first to be more popular; the second sounds more like a loose description than an official name for a department.

b) copy machine / copying machine ] Might be used for photocopiers; but also for other kinds of machine that copy things. I would expect the second to be more usual!

Best wishes,

MrP