Dear tsuwm: the only thing I have against the OED is their presenting gross errors in word
usage, without any comment. I don't advocate prescriptivism, but such things as "negative ullage"
burn me up.
I am really surprised that I could find only the one quote using "longeur". The English have a
talent for mangling French, and this is a good example.I still get a chuckle out of the scene in
"Grande Illusion" in the POW camp, when the Frenchman tries to tell a Colonel Blimp type about
the tujnel.
What name can anybody give for the metaphor that would change "length" into "something too long"?