Pasta versus Noodle

A few weeks back I had shrimp garlic spaghetti for dinner in my dining hall. For a dining hall meal, I thought it was delicious. The rich flavor of garlic went well with the pasta. That very night I had a late night snack, cup ramen or cup noodles. I ate my cup noodle wishing I had a real ramen from Tokyo instead of the cheap instant one. After finishing my cup noodles I noticed that I had two noodle meals in a row, shrimp garlic spaghetti and cup noodles. I then wondered what makes them so different and why. It is common for ramen to include garlic, shrimp and vegetables which are also used in spaghetti as well. Also the main ingredients for both pasta and noodle are made from dough as far as I know. So why is it so different? The obvious answer is that they come from different origin. Also ramen noodles are dipped in a bowl of soup where spaghetti is placed on a plate with a sauce. Another difference is the way in which we eat the two meals. To eat spaghetti, one usually use a fork and twirl it to make into a ball. By twirling the pasta to a ball it makes it easier to eat in one bite. Ramen on the other hand uses chopsticks and is eaten by lifting the noodle in the air to cool it off before slurping down the noodles. So I suppose there are differences in the two meals, but not with the pasta or noodle itself. It may not be the noodle or the pasta that determines what the meal is called. If we were to do an experiment and had just the pasta and noodle on a plate, would we be able to tell the difference? My answer would be that they would not be able to tell the difference. I suppose the way we eat, tools we use to eat and flavoring such as sauce or soup defines the food. Pasta or Noodle alone cannot be a spaghetti or ramen.