"Lazarus Cooke" wrote in message
om...


We have a term for it too Tidal Wave.


That's the trouble. It was misleading. A tsunami has nothing at all to
do with tides, and that's why they changed it.


Well, the OED definition of 'tidal wave' is "Geog. an exceptionally large
ocean wave esp. one caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic
eruption.", so it isn't misleading if one is familiar with the definition. I
believe the literal translation of 'tsunami' is 'harbour wave', and, if so,
that might itself be considered misleading, since tsunami are not limited to
harbours, and not all waves in harbours are tsunami, either.

Perhaps the fact most English speakers are not Japanese speakers and are
hence unlikely to be confused by possible quibbles regarding the literal
meaning of the term is one reason many of us consider 'tsunami' a more apt
term than 'tidal wave'.

Whatever we choose to call them doesn't alter their destructive powers, of
course, but if there is an almost universally understood term for the
phenomenon, I can't see the harm in using it.