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#50625 12/26/01 11:25 PM
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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


#50626 12/27/01 12:26 AM
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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.


#50627 12/27/01 01:50 AM
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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.



#50628 12/27/01 10:41 AM
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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




#50629 12/27/01 01:24 PM
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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.


#50630 12/27/01 01:44 PM
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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


#50631 12/27/01 01:58 PM
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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?


#50632 12/27/01 02:34 PM
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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.


#50633 12/27/01 02:59 PM
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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"?


#50634 12/27/01 04:16 PM
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>Actually isn't it "philtrum"?

actually®, yes.
http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/


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