A linguistic question to my English speaking friends

[LurchLord]

Hello my dear Testiculars.

I am coming to you today with a question that has been vexing me for a long time now.

Could you please give me a short, simple definition of the difference between referee and arbiter?

My English teacher (30 years ago) found herself unable to provide an answer.

Thank you in advance for the work I made you.

 

[Pistol]

Hi LunchLord

Your teacher may have been confused with an "Arbiter-Referee" from Halo?

 

[Richard Bong]

The primary difference is context of the setting.

 

[Thugari]

this is a trick question, its like asking a testee if this beer makes me look fat.

 

[Mudhawk]

Could you please give me a short, simple definition of the difference between referee and arbiter?

Short version: paygrade. Usually pro arbiter.
Long version: The term referee stems from the act of refering. Usually to a set of rules prior agreed upon by two or more parties. Usually found in sports the referee is the person reading the rules, not making them. And the multiple parties involved also only follow the rules but not the referee as a person.
An arbiter is, per definition of the word, a judge. Well, in latin anyhow.
While the arbiter has to deal with two or more parties too, he or she is not necessarily bound by rules. Though usually laws and traditions do apply in the judgement. The position of an arbiter usually is respected by the involved parties. Either because of the person as such or because of the one sending them to make those squabbling idiots shut up.
Obviously
To sum it up : FC Liverpool vs. Real Madrid = referee.
Worker Union vs. Amazon CO = arbiter.

 

[Raven_King]

The main meaning of both words is a role someone performs to interpret the rules and make judgments about a situation based on those rules.

Referee is a much more commonly-used word than arbiter. I would associate a referee most strongly with sport. He's the one with a whistle, looking for infractions of the rules and calling proportionate penalties if he sees a rule broken. (Referee has another meaning, in the context of a person submitting an application form for a job, where you are asked to provide references of previous employment by naming someone at that employer who will verify that you worked there, and may give a report of how well you did at that company. That person is one of your referees).

I would associate an arbiter with a person settling legal dispute, for example between two companies, or between a company and a union. It's a role similar to that of a judge. It sounds quite archaic - old fashioned - to me. There is also the expression of being an arbiter of taste - someone who has a self-appointed or informal role to be influential in deciding what is in fashion, and says what they think is in good taste or poor taste.

 

[Leofev]

All these definitions are from the others are good but neglect a crucial difference:

The Ref gets to blow a shiny whistle

 

[RoosterRage]

Hello my dear Testiculars.

I am coming to you today with a question that has been vexing me for a long time now.

Could you please give me a short, simple definition of the difference between referee and arbiter?

My English teacher (30 years ago) found herself unable to provide an answer.

Thank you in advance for the work I made you.

Referee- makes decisions in a game or sport, arbiter- makes a legal decision between people, companies, countries and so on.

 

[Deroth]

The many above comments pretty much covers it, but another point of difference:

Referees are routinely mocked by most people (to include in their place of work), and the consequence is most people point at the referee while laughing.
Very few people will openly mock an arbiter (especially in their place of work), and the consequences to those that do can include spending a nice relaxing visit to a jail cell.

 

[Mudhawk]

Very few people will openly mock an arbiter (especially in their place of work), and the consequences to those that do can include spending a nice relaxing visit to a jail cell.

So no chants about the arbiter's sexual preferences or "we know where you parked your car"?
I'd say that's a huge difference.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

My good an genteel TESTies please do not forget "referee" is also spoken "refer-ee" as well as "ref-er-ee"

A Refer-ee is someone who refers someone to something, like when a TESTie refers you to a particularly good beer. Sort of like introducing you to something but only by suggestion, not action. I think.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

In American law, an arbiter's ruling is not final in the same way as that of a judge. Arbitration has the sense or connotation that it is a collaborative process whereas a referee is making a call that needs no negotiation. Hence athletes are uninvited to argue with a referee, whereas both sides usually make their case to an arbiter.

 

[LurchLord]

First, thank you all for your answers.
Thou artst awesome.

Second, why is the referee in chess being referred to as arbiter?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I have no idea. For that you would need to research the history of chess. IIRC, chess goes back to antiquity, when English was a very different language than it is now. Could be the use of the term reflects that era. In fact, chess may go back further than both middle and olde English. It's very old. It may even be the term comes from another langauge than English.

However, its just as likely that the term is newer and reflects modern organization of the International Chess Federation. They made the term "International Arbiter" official in 1951:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbiter_(chess)

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Also for any non-native speakers, always remember that English is a bastard child with more varied precursors (Latin, Germanic, Old English, etc.) than almost any other language, and as such the vocabulary has become overly extensive! In some ways it's fun to explore these nuanced differences between synonyms, but I'd hardly call it a necessity of fluency either!

 

[Deroth]

Also for any non-native speakers, always remember that English is a bastard child with more varied precursors (Latin, Germanic, Old English, etc.) than almost any other language, and as such the vocabulary has become overly extensive! In some ways it's fun to explore these nuanced differences between synonyms, but I'd hardly call it a necessity of fluency either!

Especially when you consider that some words and phrases have different cultural meanings, different Regional meanings, and even from State to State or City to City.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3ZEThUq8nA