From: jwkenne@attglobal.net
On 2014-10-06 05:03:59 +0000, J.Pascal said:
> 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?
Naked "toggle" has a long history of meaning things like pegs stuck
into a rope or chain to stop a knot or provide an attachment point or
the thingy on the opposite end of a watch chain that holds it attached
to the clothing, etc., etc., but it does not appear with the "switch"
meaning until quite recently, as a shortening of "toggle switch", which
originally referred to switches that moved up and down with a snap, as
opposed to knife switches, rotary switches, pushbotton switches, and
others.
--
John W Kennedy
"...if you had to fall in love with someone who was evil, I can see why
it was her."
-- "Alias"
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
