Anselmo Pérez Serrada wrote: > Hi everyone, Now that you're talking about drainage inclinations, > I'd like to pose a lexical question: Which is the > difference between 'inclination' and 'slope'? As far as I can see, I > gather that in English both are interchangeable terms that denoteso > the angle between some plane with the vertical line as also the angle > made with the(horizontal) ground. You can only notice the difference > through the context. In Spanish (and I suppose in other Latin > languages) there is a difference, not alwaysobserved, between > 'inclinacion' (=inclination?) and 'pendiente' (=slope?): the first > oneis the angle between the plane and the vertical line and the second > one is itscomplementary. That's why we talk about 'La torre inclinada > de Pisa' (the leaning towerof Pisa) but not 'La torre pendiente de > Pisa'. I am telling that because sometimes English documents are > confusing and maybe itcould be useful to establish that difference in > the standard technical gnomonic lingo: * Slope: Angle between a > plane's maximum slope line and its horizontal projection.* > Inclination: Angle between a plane's maximum slope line and a vertical > line intersecting it. (Obviously, both are terms are linked by Slope = > 90 deg - Inclination) I haven't found any reference to this in my > English dictionaries, so maybe my proposal isa gramatical aberration: > that's why I am making this question! Cheers, Anselmo
¡Hola, Anselmo! Hello, everyone! In French, which is another Latin language, we would not say that a tower (or wall) is "incliné", but rather that it is "penché": the latter word is is used with respect to either the vertical or the horizontal, however. The example above are clearly wrt vertical, but we also say that a frame "penche à droite" if its right side is lower on the horizontal than its left side; also for the weighing instrument, we say "faire pencher la balance". The same with the word "incliné" or "inclinaison": it can be either wrt vertical or horizontal, but you don't say "une tour inclinée" even though you can say that "l'inclinaison de la tour" becomes dangerous. "Inclinaison" is also used for the difference between the true North and the magnetic one. Actually, you can use "inclinaison" with respect to any reference surface or line. Yet another word is "la pente" (ES: "pendiente"), which is always wrt the horizontal. That's the word you would use for draining the water off a surface: "une pente de 1cm/m" is a minimum ;-) Sorry for being off topic again, I should maybe have responded only to you Anselmo, but look, I did not write in Spanish... Cheers! -- __________________________________ Thierry vs 50.5N 4.3E mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________ -
