Date: 30 Nov 98 18:22:28 EST
From: Andrew M. Grossman
Reply-To: grossdog@dartmouth.edu
Subject: the 2nd half
To: Patrick D. N. DeLeon
8.
By the OED definition of “hypothetical” I could not, assuming, of course, that said world was populated by human beings or other intelligent life-forms. It could be argued that the ability to hypothesize is a feature of intelligence. Animals rely on instinct and past experience and react to situations; humans, also using past experience and knowledge, hypothesize about the future, combining pieces of knowledge in ways that may have never been before done.
Living in a world allowing hypothesis, one could imagine such a world, although it would be boring and mostly primitive. Inhabitants of that world, who we will assume to be semi-intelligent, would be able to place themselves in previous situations, not imagining in the strictest sense, but remembering. In this limited way, they could imagine their world.
9.
Pans with Teflon’ coatings are first grit-blasted to create tiny loops and holes that are then filled in with a coating of Teflon’ or another Polytetrafouroethylene. When the coating dries, it is stuck, physically, to the pan’s rough surface.
10.According to the theory of relativity, one cannot travel at the speed of light. Although one could theoretically get very close, c can actually never be reached. Thus, this premise is invalid.
11.
Parking on a parkway would be a very dangerous endeavor. Similarly, driving more than several feet on most driveways would cause significant damage to one’s car, house, or both.
12.
The word “cargo” actually predates the word “car,” making it unlikely that this is any sort of traditional linguistic puzzle. According to the OED, a shipment is “that which is shipped; a consignment of goods for transportation.” Neither implied nor inherent in that definition is the concept of transportation by car or truck. A shipment could arrive by boat or plane, perhaps. Cargo, from carga of French origin (a measure of weight of approximately 400 lbs.), mutated into cargaos, and, then, cargo. Car, is derived from the Italian carre, a two-wheeled wagon used for the transportation of goods. Thus, although there appears, to modern English ears, to be a discontinuity, the word origins indicated that none of these words are really related in their etymologies.
13.
Apartments, though the creative use of walls, create the illusion of privacy. Thus, although physically adjacent, apartment-dwellers are, psychologically, apart. Excepting, of course, when one’s next-door neighbor turns up the volume too high.
14.
Che Guereva, the noted Mexican self-proclaimed freedom fighter, fought for communism. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a modern electronics group, claims to advance the cause of freedom on the Internet by assuring unbridled pornography for all. Thus, since “freedom fighting” implies an “us vs. them” premise, one could argue that is a largely relativistic term and must be evaluated on such terms. Simply put, freedom is different things for different people and social groups.
15.
The rush of the road, the exhilaration of freedom from the confines of the workplace. “Rush” denotes both the adrenaline rush of the transition to leisure time and, more literally, the speed at which most workers would like to get to their destinations. It is possible that the word stems from the courts of British nobles in the mid to late 19th century. In the mornings and evenings, those who wanted an audience with the noble had to wait in long lines with others trying to their business before or after work. Thus, they would rush while in audience to accomplish their tasks as quickly as possible.
16.
The OED ascribes the earliest recorded usage of a variant of “phonetic” to A.J. Esen, who spelled the word “fwnetics.” The ph combination is, perhaps, a holdover from old English.
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