At 05:38 PM 1/8/03 -0600, Julia Thompson wrote:
Richard Baker wrote: > > Jeffrey said: > > > *nod* that's what I understand it to mean. Julia seems to imply > > there's another, UK version of the phrase..? > > Over here, if you table something, you put it on the table where it can > be discussed. In other words, exactly the opposite meaning. > > Rich, who thinks that must make US-UK diplomacy fun.I heard a story about a discussion during WWII in which people almost came to blows before that definition was straightened out.... Can't remember any other details, so it might just be a folktale, but it illustrated the problem nicely when told properly.
And don't forget the Vietnam peace talks, when IIRC they spent literally weeks before ever starting the actual talks debating the size and shape of the table to use, not to mention how to arrange the participants around it, so that no one could be seen as being in a superior or inferior position to anyone else . . .
--Ronn! :)
I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
