| Date: | May 30, 2007 / year-entry #193 |
| Tags: | non-computer |
| Orig Link: | https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20070530-01/?p=26633 |
| Comments: | 9 |
| Summary: | One of my friends is involved with Science on Tap, a free, informal monthly get-together in the Seattle area covering science topics for the general public. (Recent coverage in the Seattle-PI.) The topic for July 30th is "The three things you need to know about tsunamis", and a title like that pretty much sells itself. |
One of my friends is involved with Science on Tap, a free, informal monthly get-together in the Seattle area covering science topics for the general public. (Recent coverage in the Seattle-PI.) The topic for July 30th is "The three things you need to know about tsunamis", and a title like that pretty much sells itself. |
Comments (9)
Comments are closed. |
1) They’re tsunamis
2) They’re tsunamis
and
3) Did I mention they’re tsunamis?
Anything else is just noise. :)
One datum of noise is the argument over whether the correct plural is tsunami (as in Japanese) or tsunamis (as in conventional English).:)
nonsense. tsunami IS plural. The singular for tsunami is tsunamus. However, it is never used since there is no SINGLE wave. They always come in one or more ‘files’, with each wave within a single file stretching a small distance, typically 50 – 100ft. Basic physics stuff, kids!
"However, it is never used since there is no SINGLE wave"
What about solitons?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton
Incidentally, I heard in Thai tsunami a bunch of people were saved because someone worked out from the sea rapidly receding that a tsunami was about to hit.
<i>nonsense. tsunami IS plural. The singular for tsunami is tsunamus.</i>
Er…tsunami is Japanese, not Latin. Tsunami in Japanese is both singular and plural. How we use it in English is another matter. I’ve seen both usages (pl. tsunami and pl. tsunamis), and I would be reluctant to denounce either.
The tsunami was an adumbration of the wrath of God, a harbinger of things to come: that Great Day of Judgment. Amos 3:6 "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"
http://www.godhatesamerica.com/ghfmir/main/faq.html#tsunami
Are the geeks visiting here so humorless as to take my tongue-in-cheek comment seriously?
Actually I dropped the second part where I was going to say:
‘Japanese named tsunami so because they wished that these waves hit – quote – those d*#$ed chinese (from the land of sun <u>TZU</u>) and Vietnamese (from <u>’NAM</u>) instead’
Well, this geek is too used to seeing overapplication of Latin. In retrospect your joke was actually pretty funny. :)
Hint: use smileys on the Internet to convey that your tongue is in your cheek. I can’t really see it from here. :)
"Are the geeks visiting here so humorless as to take my tongue-in-cheek comment seriously?"
Yes. If you want humour to be supported, you need to rebuild with CFG_SUP_HUMOUR and CFG_NO_STRIP_HUMOR_SUPPORT defined. That should be OBVIOUS, even to YOU.