Is A Stone By Any Other Name Still A Rock?

When I was considering photos for Frank’s challenge this week, I contemplated the age-old question: What is the difference between a rock and a stone? “What?” you say with mild skepticism, “Can such a question really worth consideration?” Yes, it turns out, it can. I provide for your consideration two answers to the question at hand from GeologyWriter.Com (the post is worth a read):

 In his wonderful book, Stone by Stone, Robert Thorson writes “Rock is raw material in situ. Stone usually connotes either human handling or human use, although it can also be used to describe naturally produced fragments of rock larger than a cobble.”

I turned to one of my favorite books, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), to get the fine opinion of its worthy editors. The first definition for rock is “A large rugged mass of hard mineral material or stone.” Its first use comes from Old English, dated at 950-1100. The OED defines stone as “A piece of rock or hard mineral substance of a small or moderate size,” first used in 825.

Join Frank’s Tuesday Photo Challenge: Stone