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Reading a recent Scientific American I discovered that particle physics has a whole new a deluge of inferred, theoretical particles created to help explain this branch of study. Anyone who knows the scientist's explanation of the nuclei will be no stranger to the concept of 'fermions' and 'bosons'. But with the advent of supersymmetry models, many complimentary particles (superpartners) have been introduced to explain things. This gives us the fermionic partners by the names of photino, gluino, Wino, Zino, gravitino, and higgsino. The bosonic partners are a selectron, smuon, sneutrino, squark, etc.
Now, isn't it a bit funny that completely theoretical, and all but empirically disproven particles (thanks to particle accelerators) like the elusive 'Higgs' get their own 'predicted' symmetry partner. Much of a nothingness I guess. In any case, don't you think these great scientists could have been a little more inventive with their names? I mean, a 'Wino and 'Zino' sounds like micro$chrott programs and a 'smuon', well the less said the better. I think these wildly inventive blokes need to be compactified. [g]
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Carpal Tunnel
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as my latin is non-existent, what is the meaning of -ino and -on? I really like the whole color and flavor idea that physicists use, though. puts a different spin on things... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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I can't certify that Fermi actually said this, but it has not been empirically disproven:
Physicists in Chicago were carrying lists of all the new sub-atomic particles as aids to memorization. When asked why he didn't also carry such a list, Fermi replied that had he wanted to memorize to much, he would have studied biology.
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a whole new a deluge of inferred, theoretical particles created to help explain this branch of studyStrikes me a little like imaginary numbers such as j (square root of -1 if memory serves). To most people who never even dip a toe in such abstractions (now there's a mixed metaphor  ) it's all completely and utterly useless and meaningless. You just have to assume that these terms are useful to the scientists themselves; but sometimes I wonder. Can these terms/theoretical particles ever be uninvented? Can their existence be questioned? If not, then I agree with the belligerent attitude that these wildly inventive blokes need to be compactified. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think that the scientists aren't coming up with more interesting words because when they did, with words like "quark" and the "strangeness" of particles, people jumped all over them for such weird names...
formerly known as etaoin...
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people jumped all over them for such weird namesDid they, eta? I always thought the above terms (in particular) were pretty well received. Heck, there was an album named after them. Hawkwind, was it? Ah. Point taken.
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haha!  I was unfamiliar with Hawkwind, so after doing a little listening(I love the web), I can fully understand your comment. there was post the other day about songs that used the same guitar progression all the way through. I think we just found another one... not to mention the melody barely strays from the one idea(I hesitate to even call it an "idea"). to be fair, I would need to listen to several songs by this group, but the second one I heard, "motorhead", doesn't give me much hope...
formerly known as etaoin...
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post the other day about songs that used the same guitar progression all the way throughYeah, from none other than yours truly - http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=74425'Tain't necessarily a bad thing, by any means. Songs based on a modal "drone" have a long history going back to very old folk music. You must know With or Without You, as an example of brilliant use of a single chord sequence (D/A/Bm/G for any musos that don't know already). But there we also have one of the best crescendoes of all time, IMHO, i.e. the variety is in the arrangement as well as the melody.
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yes, I actually heard that on the radio that very day! U2 manages to make a single progression work, as opposed to Hawkwind.... it's funny though, I was hearing U2 as I listened to the Hawkwind tune... I suppose all sorts of influences are possible... to be honest, I've written a few modal drones myself, and as a jazz bass player, I've played many!
formerly known as etaoin...
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One always wants to slip in a B-part somewhere to mix things up hey, etaoin? Lively instrumentation and a driving performance can give the most modest of progressions some excellent dynamism, no doubt. It all depends on mood and setting, and the relationship between form and meaning, whether very circular works can have a profound effect. The mood of that U2 song our Pisces mentions is, in some respects, that of (futile?) ‘waiting’ (‘and I wait without you’ are some of the lyrics I think). The unvarying line thus contributes to the meaning. I like that song too, but I think my favourite ballads are all more complex). Electronic music often uses the relentless repetition of basic chordal patterns, or some prickly ascending bass line to, amongst other things, get you moving. Now we are, once again becoming fanatics of the rotund rhythms and tunes, as we’ve realised their mediative qualities. I mean – I like a symphony too – but if you let yourself go in the second movement, you end up getting a rude shock at the next allegro!
Fishona, I have a very strange perspective of particle physics, I've always wondered why subatomic particles are named after curd cheese!
BTW, '-on' is just an ending to indicate a singularity, a thing, a noun. The '-ino' ending just means 'a small thing' as far as I know.
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