From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   On 2014-10-05 11:52:51 +0000, Jacey Bedford said:   
      
   > 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.   
   >>>   
   >>> 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.   
   >>   
   >   
   > Yes we use the word points in Britain, perhaps because the change of   
   > position points the train in another direction. I'm guessing.   
      
   More probably because points are where lines intersect.   
      
   > 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).   
      
   I don't know how fashionable the word may be today among British   
   equestrians, but it is definitely the original meaning of the word.   
      
   > An electric swtich switches or changes the current. Seems obvious.   
      
   Not until the idea exists that "switch" means that -- which appeared on   
   railroads long before electrical current was discovered.   
      
   --   
   John W Kennedy   
   If Bill Gates believes in "intelligent design", why can't he apply it   
   to Windows?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)