From: julie@pascal.org   
      
   On Sunday, October 5, 2014 10:07:29 PM UTC-6, John W Kennedy wrote:   
   > 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.   
   >   
      
      
   So what about the alternative... toggle?   
      
   -Julie   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)