Paste or glue

Question

They are glued together.

Can you say "they are pasted together"?.

Are "paste" and "glue" interchangeable?.

Thank you beforehand.

Answer 1

If you are talking about two things being stuck together you almost always say "glue". "Paste" can be the name of a sticky substance used to stick papers together, but you rarely see it, anymore. Everyone uses "glue" now. The only exception I can think of is wallpaper paste. "Paste" is used as a verb with respect to computer software. You "cut" and "paste" words from one document to another.

"Paste" is also what we call many really thick liquids, whether they are sticky or not.

Answer 2

You could and be understood but I think of glue as more permanent and paste as something I ate in kindergarten.Just another English users opinion.

Hah, hah, hah, hah!!! - Gekkosan, Oct 7, 2010

Answer 3

"Paste" is also what we call many really thick liquids, whether they are sticky or not.

Yes, toothpaste and tomato paste and anchovey paste come to mind. But it's been years since I've seen that white paste that we'd eat in school. When my niece was little, there was some company that made that paste with mint added to it! But actually, that white paste was more useful for snacking than it was for pasting things together.

But we still use the saying, "cut and paste" (it would never be "cut and glue")

That paste used to make the papers rigid, too. And when it dried out they'd fall apart. Remember mucilage? Even worse, and it tasted terrible. - KevinB, Oct 4, 2010

Yes I much preferred the mint flavored paste. Who thought of that marketing scheme? - nizhoni1, Oct 4, 2010

Answer 4

I always associate the word "paste" with "cut and paste", for example in a drawing or in a document in the computer. And it sounds better "cut and paste this" that "cut and glue this" when we are talking about a drawing.

Is that like this?