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Tong vs Pong - What's the difference?

tong | pong |

As a noun tong

is tone, shade.

As a proper noun pong is

(video games) an early video game from atari, resembling ping-pong, in which two players control paddles and attempt to intercept a ball.

tong

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) tange'', from a Germanic root. Cognate to Old Norse ''t?ng'' (modern Icelandic .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
  • * 1998 , Alberdina Houtman, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz (editors), Sanctity of time and space in tradition and modernity , page 232:
  • these attributes are concrete expressions of God's care and providence and therefore not man-made. This explains the quite bizarre presence of a ‘pair’ of tongs' in some lists: in order to make a '''tong''' one needs a '''tong''', and how could the first '''tong''' be made without a ' tong ?

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To use tongs.
  • To grab, manipulate or transport something using tongs.
  • See also

    * tongs

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A Chinese secret society or gang.
  • See also

    * triad * yakuza ----

    pong

    English

    Etymology 1

    From ping, via the pairing of .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (networking) A packet that is replying to a ping, and thereby indicating the presence of a host.
  • Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A stench, a bad smell.
  • * 1992 , , Volume 1, 2011, Read How You Want, page 109,
  • She sniffed, squiffing up her nose. ‘What a pong ! Do they all smell like this?’
  • * 1998 , Catherine Fox, Heaven?s Scent'', '' , page 13,
  • I can remember calling round once and when she answered the door I was greeted by an unmistakable, noxious pong . “I can smell gas!”
    I said. “Oh, have I left the ring on?” she asked vaguely.
  • * 2000 , Susan Sallis, 2011, unnumbered page,
  • ‘I see what you mean about the pong . I couldn?t smell it on myself but I can smell it on you!’
  • * 2009 , Martin Fine, The Devil?s Fragrance , page 109,
  • If you want to empty a crowded room strong body pong will usually do the trick.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To stink, to smell bad.
  • * 1997 , , David M. E. Roskies (translator and editor), Stop Thief!'', ''Black Clouds Over the Isle of Gods and Other Modern Indonesian Short Stories , page 97,
  • On she walked at a crawling pace, ponging of sweat, drops of mucus and blood falling between her feet.
  • * 2009 , Susan Brocker, Saving Sam , HarperCollins, New Zealand, unnumbered page,
  • The place ponged , like the smell of stale cat pee.
  • * 2010 , Robin Easton, Naked in Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest , page 63,
  • “That toothless bloke ponged . Couldn?t you smell him? He smelled like a bloody pub floor at closing time.”
  • * 2011 , , We?ll Sing at Dawn , 2012, eBook, Headline Publishing, unnumbered page,
  • and this evening, Eileen Perkins?s daughter Rita ponged with the smell of cheap carbolic soap, after a late-afternoon visit to the public baths down Hornsey Road.
    Synonyms
    * (stink) reek, smell, stink

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (games, mahjong) A set of three identical tiles.