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I have wondered for a long time why the name "coaster" was given to the small dishes or disks put under a glass of beverage to protect the finish of the table.
I remember on a hot day seeing cold wet empty glasses "coast" along a table from expansion of air under them lifting the glass because the rim of base was sealed by water.
I wonder if that is how the disks got that name.
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originally it was the tray under a decanter, which coasted (made the circuit) around the table after dinner.
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Now tsuwm, you wouldn't lie to us, would you? 
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tsuwm would lie to us, but you'd never known when because he's the Master of Asstsuwmptions. He's always coiled, you know, often generous, but just when you think he's being true, out he jumps and contsuwmes you in your incorrect asstsuwmption! I know. I've been there.
Best regards,
DullDub
PS: Why in Sam's Hill do they call it a rollercoaster? It's NOT the coast that's the fun--it's the roll! And, if it were mostly a coasting coaster, hardly anyone would ride it.
Big Fan of The Rebel Yell at Paramount's Kings Dominion.
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It's NOT the coast that's the fun--it's the roll!
Huh? The whole thang is a coast after the initial powered climb at the beginning.
And would calling it a coasterroller improve matters any?
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Well, DubDub, your query sent me searching, and though I didn't see how the name roller coaster came into being, I did find that there were at one time: Traver coasters, and Flip Flap Coasters. http://www.coasterville.com/history.htmMore history can be found at http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/There are some interesting differences between the two, but both agree that the concept began with ice slides in Russia.
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>you wouldn't lie to us, would you?
actually®, the only thing dumb about the answer was that it wasn't complete. I could have gone on to say that the word (coaster, that is) originally meant one who (or a thing which) traveled along the coast, which led to the thing traveling around the table's edge.
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Yeah, yeah, Faldage, it's kinda sorta a coast, but it's the speed of the roll that brings the thrill, you know, ergo, thrill ride. That sure as heck wouldn't happen in some lollygagging, bumbling, easy, lazy-days-of-summer, little ol' coast!
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I still shake my head trying to imagine how the word for "rib" got stretched to mean an incline down which one could "coast".
And while the derivation for the decanter tray is quite logical, the "coasters" for individual drinking glasses
do not move.
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Dear wwh:
You're asking for this one, but, if you can't imagining coasting down somebody's ribs, then, doc, you gotta get your nose outta that medical book and into poetry! I can imagine pretty sizzling coasting down a certain set of ribs anyday--any day at all!
Best regards,
(Your good friend, you know I am!)
DubDub
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>And while the derivation for the decanter tray is quite logical, the "coasters" for individual drinking glasses do not move.
"The old material of language is constantly suffering extension and transferral to new uses." -Whitney
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Dear tsuwm: It occurs to me to wonder if the decanter tray and disks might have been a set, and each guest took a disk as he used the decanter. So the term "coaster" could apply to each item.
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And while the derivation for the decanter tray is quite logical, the "coasters" for individual drinking glasses do not move.
A seafarer can coast on a vessel and landlubbers can coast on a sled or tobaggan. While it is absolutely true, wwh, that "individual drinking glasses do not move", the coaster beneath the drinking vessel can be made to slide (or coast) over the surface of the table, much like a sled or toboggan, simply by pressing down on the drinking vessel and pushing in any direction. This is a common characteristic of any coaster, whether at sea, or propelled around a dining room on wheels, or pushed forward on a table to beckon a server to replenish the contents of the vessel. In each case, the coaster separates its cargo from the surface below and, in each case, it is the coaster which does the moving, not its cargo.
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The Great and Powerful tsuwm quotes:
"The old material of language is constantly suffering extension and transferral to new uses." -Whitney
I think I like this Whitney if his use of "suffering" is in the positive, not the negative, sense. Who is this Whitney, I wonder. There are gaps a-plenty in my sometimes education.
And, wwh, you didn't respond to my ribs comment, by the way. I am wondering what you thought of it, doc!?
Best regards,
WhitneyWondering
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How did the ribs get into this in the first place? Did someone edit out a comment that Dr. Bill responded to in his wonderment at the coasting down the ribs question? Or what?
And I am still confused by your wonderment, Dub' Dub, at the term rollercoaster. The roll is in there. And it coasts, however fast.
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Dear Faldage:
Rollercoaster just sounds so dadburned SLOW to me--more like a lazy afternoon at the beach, waves slowly tumblin' in, lazy waves as drowsy and dreamy as waves can sometimes be--boats in the distance barely wafting along.
That's what the word rollercoaster sounds like to me.
Some words just don't evoke what they are. Like tsuwm's philtre or philter, I've forgotten which, for the dip above your lips below the nose. That is a most horrible, nasty, clinical word for something so gently lying there.
Best regards,
DubDub, about to drift off to sleep on a slowly lapping roller - co - a - st - er
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Rollercoaster just sounds so dadburned SLOW to me
Which sounds to me almost as though you were objecting to the roller more than the coaster. What would you call the infernal device?
Hello?
Dub' Dub?
Are you awake?
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And, wwh, you didn't respond to my ribs comment, by the way. I am wondering what you
thought of it, doc!?
Dear WW: Costal coasting, navel to navel, seeking out the promised land, worshipping wonderfully.
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...tsuwm's philtre or philter, I've forgotten which, for the dip above your lips below the nose
Actually isn't it "philtrum"?
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>Actually isn't it "philtrum"? actually®, yes. http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/
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That's it!! Philtrum! That's the bloody cold word. What a stupid word for such a lovely, delectable place.
And, wwh, you were positively poetic with your response! It has given me my greatest chunk of joy today! Bravo and bravo! I'm all for the intercostal waterways.
Faldage: I don't know what I would call it. I just wouldn't call it a rollercoaster. How would you ever get all those ups and downs and curves around into THE best name? I think The Rebel Yell says a heckuva lot more about that ride than rollercoaster. But give me some time and some dreaming here--I may come up with something. I know! Just call it the Gyratingphiltrum!
Best regards,
Wildwind
tsuwm, I just KNEW you were there with your lexicon!
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In one of Mary Stewart's books, a very old recipe is found, called, "The Love Philtre". Can anyone tell me why the word philtre was used here?
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She must have gone to same school as Harry Potter. Probably love philtres are not taught until senior year
"you do is like strong magic wine, a love philtre for boys." ... my neices and nephews.
They're off reading Harry Potter and the like. I've read HP ... ."
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Dear Jackie,
Love philter = love love potion (a redundancy, perhaps intentional from the calculating Ms. Stewart?)
Here's the bit from Bartleby:
VARIANT FORMS: also phil·tre
NOUN: 1. A love potion. 2. A magic potion or charm.
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: phil·tered also phil·tred, phil·ter·ing, phil·tring, phil·ters, phil·tres
To enchant with or as if with a philter.
ETYMOLOGY: French philtre, from Old French, from Latin philtrum, from Greek philtron, from philein, to love, from philos, beloved, loving.
Best regards,
DubDub, who ain't found such a concoction -- yet!
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wordwhims,
from your own lips... er... fingers:
philter - A love potion... from Latin philtrum
still think philtrum is too ordinaire?
p.s. to jackie - the connection is potion >> charm >> charming :-)
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Dear Contsuwmaly,
Just following in the footsteps of the Morpheus god...
Best regards,
Wordwise A philtrum convert....
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