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07-01-2005, 01:35 AM

--
(remove the troll to reply)

Always look on the bright side of life (De do, de do, de doody doody do)

"Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1104838745.68a636cbd747e5fb5e2516c27b1790a8@t eranews...
On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 11:25:36 +0000, Lazarus Cooke wrote:

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.

L

I accept that "tidal wave" is in common use to describe big waves of any
nature. But it still does not alter the fact that it is incorrect in the
case of this appalling disaster.

In the absence of an alternative word, then I would accept "tidal wave" as a
description, but in view of the fact there is a local word for the phenomena
a "tsunami" then I prefer to use that instead.

Modern dictionaries now make a distinction between the two;

tide1 tìd,

noun ebb and flow, especially of the sea twice daily, caused by the
gravitational pull of the sun and moon; a time of ebbing, of flowing, or
both; a sudden access or flood of feeling, etc; a time or season (archaic or
poetic); a festival (archaic or poetic); opportunity (archaic); a trend;
sea-water (poetic); a flow; a river, river water, or current (poetic);
floodtide.

combining form (archaic or poetic) denoting a time or season (usually
attached to a church festival, as in Christmas-tide, Easter-tide).

verb transitive (especially figurative) to carry by, or as if by, the tide;
to effect by means of the tide.

verb intransitive to run like the tides; to make one's way by taking
advantage of the tides, to be carried by the tide (also verb transitive with
it).

tid'al adjective of, depending on or regulated by the tide; flowing and
ebbing.

tide'less adjective.

tidal flow the regulated movement of traffic in both directions along a
multi-laned road, the numbers of lanes for travel in each direction being
governed by the amount of traffic travelling in that direction.

tidal power (the generation of electricity by harnessing) the energy of
tidal flows.

tidal wave a huge wave caused by the tides; improperly, a huge wave started
by an earthquake and running on with its own momentum (see tsunami);
a widespread demonstration of public opinion, feeling, etc; the tidewave.
c) Larousse plc. All rights reserved

At least it indicates that it's a wave, whereas the word "tsunami" tells
the uninitiated naff-all.
Do you object to the name "slow worm"? Or toadstool? (to add the gardening
topic).

--
Tim C.

It is you that doesn't seem to want to accept the word "tsunami" on the
basis that it is (1) not an English word and (2) that it is not descriptive
of its meaning, therefore maybe karate, karaoke and kamikaze are words you
would not use either? In the English literal sense they don't mean anything,
yet most people know the meaning of the words. I have no objection to any
words that are literally incorrect nor any objection to new words whether
foreign or man made, such as "yuppie" and "googling" coming into use in the
English language.

Maybe you should consider taking up German as a language as this is a very
descriptive language. For instance a ladies bra becomes "a bust holder" a
submarine is called an "under-sea boat", air war is "Luftwaffe" and a people
carrier is "Volkswagen" etc etc. quite a literal language really!