On Sun, Apr 22, 2007 at 09:45:11AM -0400, Phil Henshaw wrote: > > 1. the product Corian is a solid plastic countertop material that became > popular, and the term began to be used to describe the whole class of > similar products that began to develop. Then someone came up with the > replacement term 'solid surface' to refer to the industry that grew out > of the original product. How would a computer be able to suggest that > when you search for 'Corian' you might actually be looking for 'solid > surface'.
Isn't English funny? To me, a brick wall is a solid surface, as opposed to the ocean's surface, which is not. I understand the process of genericisation, but why would Corian ever refer to stone? And I could never understand why "alloy" was used to refer to certain non-ferrous materials used for some car components, but not the steel out of which most of the car is made. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
