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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread manhole #89657 12/16/2002 7:37 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 One of the "engines" episodes mentioned means ancient Greeks made starting of foor races fair. The "aphetes" = starter, operated a "hyslex" = starting gate" which was a clever device which used same mechanism as a catapult to whip the starting rope barrier out of the way of the runners, who had to have both feet in a shallow gutter called "balbis". But the site says there was a manhole for the starter. I couldn't figure out why that was necessary. Can you? http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~cls180/week3/menu3.html Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: manhole #89658 12/16/2002 7:56 PM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 I purely guessing, Bill, but I hypothesise one of two reasons:- 1) He needed his eyes to be down at ground level so that he could see for certain that no one was stepping over the line before the start: 2) The catapult mechanism was so vicious that he needed to be in a protected place, so that it didn't do him irreparable damage. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: manhole #89659 12/16/2002 8:19 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 Another URL:http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~clscs275/Games folder/basis.htm Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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