"Duncan Heenan" wrote in message
...

"BAC" wrote in message
...

"Stuart" wrote in message
...
A tidal wave is something completely
different to a tsunami, but a lot of people don't seem to realise
this.

For the last time, it is not.

Get hold of a dictionary and look up the meaning.

Maybe its a common use of it, but its not correct, as those of us with
degrees in geology know. It may have become an alternative name for
those
who don't know better, but the original meaning is quite different.


Interesting. What, then, would you say is the 'correct' meaning of
'tidal
wave', and why do you think that to be the 'original' meaning?

(All this, of course, is yet more evidence in favour of the proposition
that
'tidal wave' is much more likely to be misunderstood than 'tsunami')


The Severn Bore is a tidal wave.



Yes, I have heard it referred to as a 'tidal wave', or a surge wave, and, in
fact the Concise OED definition of a tidal bore refers to a 'tidal wave',
although the same dictionary's definition of 'tidal wave' doesn't refer to a
'tidal bore' but to an abnormally large ocean wave caused by an underwater
volcano or earthquake. So, 'tidal wave' can mean either tidal bore or
tsunami, depending on the context. Each meaning is 'correct'.

Hence I remain of opinion it is probably less confusing to refer to a
tsunami as a tsunami rather than a tidal wave, even though I have to
acknowledge that one of the accepted meanings of tidal wave is the same
thing as a tsunami.