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#50615 12/23/01 02:55 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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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.


#50616 12/23/01 04:15 PM
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originally it was the tray under a decanter, which coasted (made the circuit) around the table after dinner.


#50617 12/24/01 01:34 AM
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Now tsuwm, you wouldn't lie to us, would you?


#50618 12/26/01 11:23 AM
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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.


#50619 12/26/01 02:06 PM
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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?


#50620 12/26/01 03:25 PM
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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.htm

More 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.


#50621 12/26/01 04:19 PM
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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.


#50622 12/26/01 06:13 PM
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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!


#50623 12/26/01 06:39 PM
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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.


#50624 12/26/01 08:18 PM
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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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