Naw, methinks it merely be a common mistake... On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 3:32 PM, Nicholas Harvey <[email protected]> wrote: > Dampen I can sort of get :p To dampen say the oscillatory motion of a > wheel on a car you could add a piston/shock absorber. Contained within > this is a fluid of some description and hence making the motion of the > wheel damp! Having no idea of the history of the term it seems like a > reasonable explanation, and knowing engineering type people it > probably came about in a similar manner. > > Cheers, > Nick > > On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 11:27 AM, Nick Andrews <[email protected]> wrote: >> How about dampen versus damp? Although it is used very frequently, I >> do not see how it would be possible to dampen vibrations. Wrapping a >> wet towel around the vibrating part might help to damp the vibration >> while dampening the parts though... >> >> My peeve is when 'data' is mispronounced like a Star Trek: The Fake >> Generation character's name. >> >> I had a statistics teacher in college who annoyed me by always talking >> about 'tossing a dice.' I tried to explain to her that if you walked >> up to a craps table and 'tossed' the dice, you would be laughed out of >> the casino... But since Engrish was not her first language, I cut her >> some slack. Just a little, but some. >> >> On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Nicholas Harvey >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Hello, >>> >>> >>> As to personal word annoyances lighted versus lit. And the use of data >>> as a collective noun (or some such thing) I don't even know if how I >>> think it should be used is correct but every time I see it annoyance >>> strikes me, and I see a significant amount of it when reading general >>> interest science magazines. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Nick >>> >>> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Dragosani <[email protected]> wrote: >>> {snip} >>>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Nick A >> >> "You know what I wish? I wish that all the scum of the world had but >> a single throat, and I had my hands about it..." Rorschach, 1975 >> >> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary >> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Benjamin Franklin, >> Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 >> >> "Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names >> the streets after them." Bill Vaughan >> >> "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." >> Plato >> >> > >
-- Nick A "You know what I wish? I wish that all the scum of the world had but a single throat, and I had my hands about it..." Rorschach, 1975 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 "Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them." Bill Vaughan "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato
