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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: Sowbug who wrote (962)3/30/1998 8:33:00 PM
From: Wizzer  Read Replies (1) of 4711
 
Rate of speed does not mean velocity to me, it means acceleration. Rate can/does also mean the same thing as speed. Is that what your dad finds amusing? In court one time, I tried to explain with calculations that since I was coming around a curve one side of my car was going faster than the other - had the officer testified truthfully about where he was pointing the laser (which was pointed to the left bumper when the curve went to the right), he would have had a different result. The judge had a glazed look and I know he did not understand. I still got out of the ticket, but for another reason.
Maybe your dad could use that one: the velocity is greater on an arc (curve) relative to the width of your car. If you can roughly determine the length of the radius of the arc, you will have two speeds for either side of your car (one for the shorter distance to the centre of the arc than the other side of your car).

Well, I look at a lot of things mathematically because I am an Engineer. The expression half empty attempts to describe the person's perception of the same glass. In reality half of empty equals empty [1/2 x 0=0] whereas half full equals 50% [1/2x100]. It means to me that the pessimist has nothing, while the optimist has something. I'm not sure if the expression was intended to also mean that, but it does. There are many expressions in English that have mathematical undertones, and your dad would love a few of them. What I am mostly interested in is the evolution of language and the computer and other industries have created dozens of new words and words that have a dual meaning depending on the context.
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