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WW, what are you using obiter dictum to mean? I've only ever heard it in the plural (obiter dicta) meaning parenthetical remarks made by a judge expressing his opinion but not actually part of the judgement he's giving.
Bingley
Bingley
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'Nother query--obiter means 'in passing'; why isn't it orbit? If obiter is where orbit came from, how'd the r get in there?
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rare individuals
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They're not related near as I can figure. Orbit is from orbis, ring, circle; obiter means in passing as has been said before. Can't trace orbis past Latin nor could I find any details about obiter although I suspect some connection to it as the 3rd person singular of the verb ire, to go.
Quick edit: Seems to be no verb obire. There is a preposition ob meaning in front of, before; in return for; because of, on account of.
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veteran
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[bold]
obiter dictum
[/bold]
I've heard this before, but never understood it or been inclined to look it up.
Useful term, though. I'll make an effort to find occasions to use it.
k
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Dear Bingley: here is what Wordsmith posted quite a while ago:
Date: Tue Mar 20 00:02:10 EST 2001
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obiter dictum
X-Bonus: I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money. -Arthur Godfrey, radio and television entertainer (1903-1983)
obiter dictum (OB-i-tuhr DIK-tuhm) noun, plural obiter dicta
1. A passing comment.
2. An observation or opinion by a judge that is incidental to the case in
question, and not binding as precedent.
[From Latin, literally, saying by the way.]
"`Abstract Expressionism was being deployed as a cold war weapon,' (Frances
Stonor) Saunders jauntily asserts. ... Obiter dicta like Saunders's
pronouncement above highlight her irreducible problem."
Josef Joffe, America's secret weapon, New York Times Book Review, Apr 23,
2000.
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left me behind at "decreasing in amplitude by some amount"
The function y=sin(x) is a sine wave with an amplitude of 1. If you have the function y=sin(x)/x it will be undefined at x=0 but beyond that it will be a sine wave of decreasing amplitude. At x=2 it will be a sine wave of amplitude 1/2 and at x=3 it will be amplitude 1/3. This sine wave would be said to be asymptotic to the y-axis since its amplitude would be approaching 0 as x increases without bound. It will never reach 0 because, for any finite x, 1/x>0.
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That should settle it! Thanks, Dr. Bill.
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Thanks, Faldage. Much appreciated.
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