From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   On 2014-09-30 02:11:52 +0000, Michelle Bottorff said:   
      
   > A. Tina Hall  wrote:   
   >   
   >> (Now imagine not being able to use pay, buy, trade, deal,... because   
   >> they don't have any economy based on trades.)   
   >   
   > Sounds rough.   
   >   
   > Racciman's World is hard enough with a "don't use" list that includes:   
   > year, month, week, hour, minute, second, mile, ghost, and cat.  There   
   > may be more that I've forgotten.   
   >   
   > Yours is definately worse.   
   >   
   >> I also wonder about the use of the word switch, what root there is,   
   >> because I only know electric switches (when not thinking "whips"), and   
   >> want to use the word in the sense of switching objects, positions,   
   >> whatever.   
   >   
   > Shakespeare uses "switch" as in whip, but not, apparently in the sense   
   > you want.   
   >   
   > I don't know where that usage came in -- If I had to guess, I think I'd   
   > go with Victorian.   
   >   
   > But I confess, it never would have occurred to me to avoid it on grounds   
   > of it being too recent.   
      
   Electric switches are named after railway switches. (British English   
   commonly uses "point", instead, but "switch" seems to be the earlier   
   term.) One would suppose the bending, tapered rails used in a railway   
   switch were being compared to a rider's switch.   
      
   --   
   John W Kennedy   
   A proud member of the reality-based community.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)