#19909
02/22/2001 3:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Last night the BBC taught me a new technical word. Way back in the 30's a lot of work was done catching elvers (very young eels) all over the Atlantic, and making a plot of size of elver at each location. This led to a number of concentric circles with common center in the Sargasso Sea.
The interpretation was that all Atlantic eels were spawned in the Sargasso Sea. And it was assumed that all eels in Europe,the Mediterranean, and North America were of one breed. Now DNA testing has shown that the breeding is not "panmictic" meaning random. There are DNA differences for each of the three groups. What was not explained is how each of the three groups know where their proper destination is.Two other technical words not mentioned: fish like salmon that go upstream to spawn are called anadromous. The eels on the other hand spend most of their life in fresh water, and go downstream to find spawning grounds and so are called catadromous.
I do think I will have a long wait before I get a chance to use "panmictic" in a conversation
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#19910
02/22/2001 4:11 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,803 |
wwh notes: Now DNA testing has shown that the breeding is not "panmictic" meaning random.
For those of y'all that were as confused as I as to whether this meant the breeding was random or wasn't random, from M-W on line: Panmixia -- random mating within a breeding population
As for using it in conversation I might suggest: "With the prevalence of AIDS and other STDs, I believe the practice of panmixia is seriously contraindicated." If the context is less than professional the line might be more like: "Whoa, man! Ain' never gone catch me doin' no panmixia. Not with all the stuff you can catch these days."
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#19911
02/22/2001 4:24 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Faldage: If I were twenty again, I would not think it a clever gambit to aske a date: "Do you practice panmixis?"
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#19912
02/22/2001 4:32 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,803 |
Depending on the honorablity of your intentions, it might work to say, "I feel a certain commitment is necessary before an advanced degree of intimacy should be attained, and therefore, I can assure you that I am not panmictic." Or something like that.
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#19913
02/22/2001 4:53 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 4,757 |
I am not panmicticSo you say - but have you succeeded yet in your quest to unsuccessfully understand the universe? Or do you remain in elusive pursuit of a successful misunderstanding? With a chat-up line like this... 
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#19914
02/22/2001 5:23 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,803 |
maverick wonders: have you succeeded yet in your quest to unsuccessfully understand the universe?
It is, my dear mav, a perpetual journey, with the universe always staying at least one step beyond me.
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#19915
02/22/2001 7:39 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
It is, my dear mav, a perpetual journey, with the universe always staying at least one step beyond me.
Thus spake Zaphodthrustra.
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#19916
02/22/2001 9:27 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
(pssst... Jackie... do you think we should put him out of his misery and tell him it's 42?)
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#19917
02/22/2001 9:39 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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do you think we should put him out of his misery and tell him it's 42?My choice of handle means that I tend to stay out of these discussions, but I could not let this pass unremarked upon. Belgium, man what's the question? 
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#19918
02/22/2001 9:50 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 10,542 |
> man what's the question? obviously, the question is: "what's 54 in base 13?"
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#19919
02/22/2001 10:01 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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what's 54 in base 13?
That one elicits a bemused smile from Douglas Adams. I saw a BBC interview with him a couple of months ago where the "six-by-nine" thing was discussed, and he seemed to find it amusing that some readers took his work so seriously that they came up with that answer. In his words, "42 just seemed like a nice number, the sort of number you would happy to take home to meet your mother."
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#19920
02/22/2001 11:05 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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but he's wrong (at least in my case); I in no way took his work seriously, and that question just came to me out of the blue 8-) when some friends were worrisomely puzzling out what 6x9 = 42 could possibly mean. I've read his explanation and my theory is this (this is *my theory): he may well have just thought 42 was a nice number, but I'll bet there is enough math(s) in his background that the question isn't just happenstance. that's it; that's my theory. 
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#19921
02/22/2001 11:26 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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when some friends were worrisomely puzzling out what 6x9 = 42 could possibly meanAh, the burdens of the over-educated! Lacking the mathematical aptitude, I simply took it at face value as stated - a distortion of the correct question. I guess that's just another exmple of triskaidekaphobia rearing its ugly head
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#19922
02/23/2001 5:14 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 3,065 |
Bingley
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#19923
02/23/2001 7:51 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
We had a recent incidence of this. We were looking for our seats on the aeroplane. Seeing our bemusement the flight attendant showed us to our seats. "Row 14, here you are, right behind row ... er 12". I'd forgotten what an influence triskaidekaphobia can have on our lives.
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#19924
02/23/2001 12:55 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
In Korea, it's the number 4 that does it for them... the word for four is "sa", which is also the first syllable of the word for death, "sa-mang". So Korean elevators show floors 1, 2, 3, 5, 6... "Sa" is also the unifying syllable among all the names for Buddhist temples ~ Pomosa, Pulguksa, etc... one day a friend and I decided to get off the subway to explore a temple that we could see from the subway stop on the side of a hill above us. We got a taxi near the subway station and gestured wildly in the direction we wanted to go, repeating "Sa, sa, sa" and the names of various temples, hoping the driver would get our meaning. Neither of us knew the name of the temple we were trying to reach, nor the standalone word for temple, nor did we recognize the absurdity that our driver must have felt at a couple of American chicks in the back of his cab screeching "Four, Four, Four!" at him! I'm confident he's still getting mileage out of that story!
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#19925
02/23/2001 3:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The "4" thing is also taboo amongst older Chinese. Around the New (Lunar) Year, to avoid bad luck for the coming year they will not say "four" but substitute "two pair" for it!
wow
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#19926
02/25/2001 6:32 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
There was a wonderful short essay in "Granta" several years ago about eels and the Sargasso Sea. It was funny in a droll sort of way; I will see if I can dig it up.
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