re "road-side gutters rather than roof guttering": Which came first, curbs or gables?
Perhaps, Bingley, but they are the same thing, functionally, are they not? They are both designed to collect run-off and direct it by force of gravity to a downspout or sewer.
Perhaps streets had gutters before buildings had gutters, but considering that the word "gutters" originated in the South, not in the North, it seems [to me] most likely that gutters appeared on the rooftops of the Old South before they appeared on the streets of the Old South -- but who knows? Perhaps themilum [from the great state of Alabama].
BTW dxb makes an interesting point: Sometimes a candle gutters...
Do you see any connection between 'water guttering' and 'flame guttering', Bingley? A guttering flame bends in a breeze.*
Gravity is to water what wind is to flame. And a guttering catches both water and flame in a draft.
Wikepedia: To draft water from a reservoir is to suction water from it.
* dxb has very helpfully cleared this up in his new "gutter press" thread.
I see where I went astray now. A candle flame sputters and flutters in a draft, but candle flames do not "gutter". It is the candle itself which "gutters" [in melting wax].
Now I get it. Thanks, dxb. :)
