Redundant scribbles in the air
OUR reports on the phenomenon of people “using words in a novel sense without knowing their original meaning” (25 December 2010 and 22 January 2011) struck a chord with Anita Gait. She draws our attention to the parallel phenomenon of people using gestures that no longer represent the idea they are trying to convey. She gives the example of what she calls the “air scribble” motion we all do when requesting the bill in a restaurant, despite the fact that we haven’t signed for anything in a restaurant in years.
“The joint boss of investment bank Barclays Capital is currently celebrating a £9.9 million cash bonus for 2010 plus £30 million worth of shares. His name is Rich Ricci”
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She wonders if there is a name for this to complement readers’ coinages for the verbal equivalent that we published on 22 January. For our part, we would love to hear some more examples.
What colour is a purple finch?
MEANWHILE, the 91av Letters pages have been discussing yet another related phenomenon. Correspondent Jamie Walker (5 March, p 33) suggests the word “hoovariation” in response to Alan Chattaway’s call for a name for “something being known more widely by an erroneous name than by its correct one” (29 January, p 25).
Now John Chen tells us about a quiz in an electronic newsletter circulated in Australia called Friday Humour (see ) which illustrates how widespread this is. The questions are:
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get cat gut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel’s hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Atlantic are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI’s first name?
8) What colour is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the colour of the black box in a commercial airplane?
And the answers are: 1) 116 years; 2) Ecuador; 3) Sheep and horses; 4) November; 5) Squirrel fur; 6) Dogs; 7) Albert; 8) Crimson; 9) New Zealand; 10) Orange.
Story of faster trains in winter
OUR piece about “cryogenic” amplifiers and the doubtful proposition that very cold wires are “virtual superconductors” (19 March) reminded Mike Collins of the time he worked in the civil engineering department of what was then called British Rail. He was often pestered by an enthusiastic young messenger who seemed to know more about railways than anyone, yet still asked lots of questions, such as: “Why does the railway have summer and winter timetables?”
Mike spun the yarn that it was a consequence of electrification. When the overhead wires were particularly cold in winter, he said, they moved towards becoming superconductors. That meant trains could run faster in winter than in summer, so both a summer (slower trains) and a winter (faster trains) timetable were needed.
“This hit a logic nerve in the lad,” Mike recalls. “I only had a week or two to wait before the story came back to me by way of another source.”
IRISH media company UTV Internet has this puzzling claim on its website in answer to the question : “Freesat is a digital TV service from the BBC and ITV. It will entertain you with over 140 digital TV and radio channels, and treat you to free HD. There’s no subscription and no monthly bills to pay. Prices start from as little as £2.99 per month.”
We are reminded of the T-Mobile adverts offering “Free internet and texts for life” if you “top up £10 each month” (19 December 2009).
FOLLOWING our comments on the emerging art form of the Amazon customer review (26 February), Erica Bower alerts us to “this wonderfully geeky tome” – a paperback entitled A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates, produced by the Rand corporation. It’s on sale at Amazon for $90 at .
Among the 227 customer reviews the book has generated so far, Erica says she particularly likes the comment by “A Curious Reader”: “Such a terrific reference work! But with so many terrific random digits, it’s a shame they didn’t sort them, to make it easier to find the one you’re looking for.”
THE “Expert Verdict” shopping catalogue that Alan Russell was looking at advertises “a special treatment formulated to protect your car engine by creating a cushion between its moving metal parts, allowing them to operate more freely and efficiently”.
“Has somebody just discovered oil?” Alan asks.
FINALLY, several readers have told us about in London’s free newspaper, Metro: “Fallout from Japan’s damaged nuclear plant is expected to reach Europe this week – but experts say the particles will be minuscule.”
Responses range from “Gosh”, “Who would have thought it?” and “No, really?” to “I’ll only start to worry when they are the size of cricket balls.”