From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   On 2014-10-05 12:32:04 +0000, William Vetter said:   
      
   > 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.   
   >>   
   >>>>   
   >>   
   >>>> 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.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> 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,   
      
   Not in the early days. A human wouldn't have the strength to use so   
   short a lever for so great an effect.   
      
   >  so they came to be called switches in US.   
      
   They were called "switches" in the UK, too, though "points" later   
   became the UK fashion.   
      
   > 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.   
      
      
   --   
   John W Kennedy   
   "Compact is becoming contract,   
   Man only earns and pays."   
     -- Charles Williams.  "Bors to Elayne:  On the King's Coins"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)