From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   On Sunday, October 5, 2014 7:52:51 AM UTC-4, Jacey Bedford wrote:   
   > On 30/09/2014 15:27, John W Kennedy wrote:   
   >   
   > > 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.   
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   > >>   
   >   
   > >> Shakespeare uses "switch" as in whip, but not, apparently in the sense   
   >   
   > >> you want.   
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   > >>   
   >   
   > >> I don't know where that usage came in -- If I had to guess, I think I'd   
   >   
   > >> go with Victorian.   
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   > >>   
   >   
   > >> But I confess, it never would have occurred to me to avoid it on grounds   
   >   
   > >> of it being too recent.   
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   > >   
   >   
   > > 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.   
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   > >   
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   >   
   > Yes we use the word points in Britain, perhaps because the change of   
   >   
   > position points the train in another direction. I'm guessing.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > In both cases the use of the word 'switch' meaning to change seems like   
   >   
   > the obvious one to me, however. A rider's 'switch' has no meaning in   
   >   
   > British English and I can't see the link between it and railway lines.   
   >   
   > Do you mean the stick a rider carries? That's a crop in British English   
   >   
   > (or a whip depending on the actual implement, but crop is most common).   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > An electric swtich switches or changes the current. Seems obvious.   
   >   
   The electric switch came after development of railroads, I think.   
      
   I will tell you what I think the ultimate origin is, based on looking this up   
   in various places.   
   1) switch was first a stick involved in horsemanship.   
   2) the railroad switches were originally operated manually, by a lever that   
   was about as long as a switch or riding crop, so they came to be called   
   switches in US.   
   3) electrical switches were named after the railroad switch, on account of   
   analogous function.   
   #2 is the murkiest of word origins of the three.  I am not an expert, but this   
   seems the most logical, after looking through what I have around.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)