"Dave" wrote in message
...
Tim Challenger writes
On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 11:47:10 -0000, BAC wrote:

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'.

I'd have thought that as most English speakers speak English, they
might be
more likely to know what the work tidalwave means that tsunami.

Well maybe the 100 or so Thai and other nationalities saved by an 11
year old girl shouting 'Tsunami' might disagree with you there. Had
she
not have just studied it at school and recognised the sudden drop in
the
shoreline water, they might all be dead.

IMHO some of these catastrophes deserve an unusual and unique title
recognised around the world. Words do change their meaning - tidal
to me
implies something predictable, and a tidal wave means maybe a severn
bore or a predicted high water being pushed down the North Sea at a
slow
rate of knots, not an unexpected two or three metre wall of several
cubic kilometres travelling at several hundred miles an hour.

A given high tide goes right round the earth in 24 hours. That makes
its speed at the equator in the unobstructed ocean slightly over 1000
mph.

Franz