Ping and pinged- both had a life before computers-- the same term is used by submarines, and is even more effective than sonar, (which has trouble sometimes distiguishing between the bottom of the ocean floor and something close to it that is not moving..)
submariners would Ping- the disadvantage was it confirmed the exact location of the "ping-er" as well as the "ping-ee" and submariner used "pinging" (as in "what about pinging the target?")
and it served a similar purpose...it confirmed the other party was "there".

Now days, side view sonar and improved electronics mean that its much harder for submarines to "run silent, run deep" as a way of hiding from other submarines..
(one bit of closely held technology is propeller technology, since propellers are a major source of "noise" new propeller design makes propellers (actually the water movement by the propellers) almost silent. a secondary advantage to silent propellers is , most of the noise is caused by "bubbles"- and bubbles stange as it seems are quite abrasive.. and actually erode the edge of the propeller blade, making them duller, and less effective.. i forget the term for propeller noice.. it begins with a c..(cacafination?)
(and brang (as in "I went on a school trip to the museum, and brang along a box lunch" ) is wrong in current english-- but it was brang (bring/brang/brought Vs. Bring/brought/brought) was correct in ireland up until WWII-- i heard it used as a child.)(brang was considered incorrect in English english for more than 100 years..)




my other obsession