Apparently the retaining pond at Ann Arbor Transportation Authority headquarters is not very deep. [photo]
S. Industrial & Eisenhower
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Or it’s been very, very wet!
Of course I should have said “retention pond”. Or is it “detention”? I get those two mixed up.
Probably “detention.”
Actually, I’ll retract that. Detention ponds are design to slow down runoff, but not to hold water indefinitely. This looks like a retention pond, since it’s designed to always have water. (Confusingly, retention ponds are sometimes called “wet detention ponds.”)
If it is designed to be wet all the time it is supposed to be called a retention pond. If it is just wet folowing a rain event, meaning it is dry most of the time, then it is supposed to be called a detention pond. Both are supposed to perform the same function though; allow the new stormwater to be absorbed back into the environment slowly to prevent downstream flooding.
I assume the terms were decided upon by engineers but I think a linguist could quibble with them.
As a linguist myself, I won’t quibble, although it’s often a distinction without a difference, since retention ponds sometimes dry up, and detention ponds (I have two) are almost always at least somewhat wet.