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The difference between ditch and dyke

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This difference is a wee bit more then "grammar changes" it is basically a complete difference in meaning and consequently I have reverted the lot. Thanks but no thanks, GerardM (talk) 10:51, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Above comment copied from User talk:Richard New Forest.

No, it comes from the ambiguity of the word. In English a dike can be either a bank or a ditch, or the combination of the two. I'm familiar with grazing marshes (polders) in southern England, where "dike" normally means a ditch, so I read it that way. I've changed the text to "bank", to avoid the ambiguity. Actually I find the whole para a bit confusing – I don't understand the reference to groundwater-related subsidence, nor what the bank encloses, nor what the negative effects are. Any ideas? Richard New Forest (talk) 20:46, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Right, I do not blame you. The problem is that English Wikipedia does not understand the difference between a dyke and a levee. They assume it to be the same. When you live below sea level like I do, the notion of what water is and how ground water in a polder works is completely against the grain of that article.
In this instance a dyke encloses a body of water and prevents it from draining. The consequence is that the process of groundwater related subsidence does not take place in that area while it does outside the enclosure. The result is that the water level becomes more and more above the surrounding land level. GerardM (talk) 00:08, 2 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, surely a Dutch dyke and a levee are the same thing in different circumstances and by different names? A levee is a bank to keep a river out, a dyke is a bank to keep the Dutch sea out; a sea-wall is a bank to keep the British sea out – but they all look the same and do the same job. The word "levee" is never used in the UK for rivers – that's called a flood-wall or flood defence, and "dyke"/"dike" is similarly not used for sea-walls. As for a bank to keep water in, we'd call that, um, a "bank", if it goes all round the water – if it was just on the downhill side on a slope it would be a dam. Either way, "dyke" is not the best word in this case. Richard New Forest (talk) 10:58, 2 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
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