You say Tomato…

So tell me...what is the difference between a river, a brook, a stream, or a creek? Is it a case of the old Tomāto Tomäto or is there a sincere difference between them all? At first I thought perhaps it's determined by the swiftness of the flow - maybe if it was just a trickle after heavy rain then it would be a creek...but what would differentiate a creek from a stream?? They both sound a lot like little tricklers to me. Then I thought, maybe it's not about the flow at all, but instead, maybe it's about the sound...If it roars it's a river, if it babbles it's a brook? Hmmm...I dunno. It seems confusing to me. Why are there so many variations? Then I thought, perhaps it's not about sound or flow at all, but instead about structure and dimension - if it's more than 15 feet across from bank to bank then it's a river - anything smaller than 15 feet is a brook, anything smaller than 10 feet is a stream and anything smaller than that...a creek?

Ever since we bought the blog cabin, we have always wondered what to call our river,brook,stream,creek in our back yard. The picture above was taken from the new cement floor that was poured last weekend and it will be our view from our new breakfast nook in our brand new kitchen!! The river,brook,stream,creek is beautiful and creates an all natural 24 hour relaxation/meditation CD for us to unwind our week to. In addition to the wonderful sound and sight, there are the birds chirping throughout the day and from evening on we hear the crickets and bull frogs chatting it up until sunrise. Our river,brook,stream,creek is also great to soak your feet in after a hard days work **sigh**
Baffled by the whole river,brook,stream,creek definition I turned to Webster for some clarity. Webster reads...ahem..."A river is a large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other body of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries." Ok great! Our river,brook,stream,creek is really a river! It's both large and natural - check! - fed by mountain water - check! - empties into a lake - check! - and is fed along it's course - check! - Our river,brook,stream,creek must be a River!! - BUT - because I am who I am and I need all the facts, I had to be sure so, I consulted Webster again to research a brook - and Webster read...ahem..."A Brook is a natural fresh water stream" - Hmmmm that sounds like our river,brook,stream,creek too:( Now finding myself in another state of confusion I consulted Webster yet again..."A Stream is a steady current of fluid"...hmmmm...not any more lucid on the subject and figuring I may as well go all in at this point, I looked up a creek - "A creek is a small stream, often a shallow or intermittent tributary to a river." hmpffff :(
After all of that I felt both confused and defeated:( and then I thought... Eureka!! - what about a map?? I quickly jumped onto google maps and yep...I totally did it...I found it! Yes sir I found the answer we were looking for all along! It was right there before my little eyes! WEST BROOK! The name of our river,brook,stream,creek is WEST BROOK ladies and gentlemen!:)

Congratulations P & J... IT'S A BROOK :)
-J