SpaceShipOne News Coverage just a little rough on the edges

I am not an entomologist so don't come down on me if
anything in this post is off the beam.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words... an "entomologist" studies
insects.

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 01:08:02 +0200 (CEST), in a place far, far away,
Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate
that:

Overall, pretty decent live event coverage. Nice aerial shots, in
particular. Background coverage was sparce. I would have like to see more
on the R & D history of the project.

But the announcers on CNN did err at least two times:

1. They prounounced Sputnik with a short, instead of the proper long "U".

That's inconsequential nitpicking.

2. They said SpaceShipOne won the prize when it succeeded in getting to
"outer" space. I do believe only the Voyager has made it to outer space,
which is really intersteller space, not the near space, which begins just
outside the Earth's atmosphere. SSO just kissed near space at best, since
there is still enough atmosphere at 100km to make orbital flight
problematic.

The real error was to declare the prize won when apogee was attained.
It wasn't won until the spacecraft landed safely (and ultimately, the
altitude was verified, and of course, that it was verified that all
other conditions were met).

While I'm at it, there is no "hell" in helicopter. Only once in recent
times have I heard a newscaster pronounce helicopter with a long "e" .

Again, in the context of the many dumb things said about space in the
media, an inconsequentiality.

In article ,
Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer writes:

While I'm at it, there is no "hell" in helicopter. Only once in recent
times have I heard a newscaster pronounce helicopter with a long "e" .
Yes, I am aware contemporary dictionaries disagree with this, but I believe
the word was coined with a long e, since the root of helicopter was derived
from the mathematical helix and was quickly *******ized into the form now
in common use. I am not an entomologist so don't come down on me if
anything in this post is off the beam.

To address your points -

1) Obviously you hve never flown a helicopter. There is plenty of
Hell in Helicopter. They are the only aircraft that fly in spit of
themselves. Baloons want to float, airplanes want to fly.
Helicopters want to roll themselves up into a ball of wreckage at a
moment's notice. Actually, the proper pronumciation should be
"Heel-i-co-petr". That's the way Igor Sikorsky pronounced it, and if
its good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

2) Not only aren't you an Entomologist, you're not an Etymologist,
either.



--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...
I am not an entomologist so don't come down on me if
anything in this post is off the beam.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words... an "entomologist" studies
insects.

Well, he's not an etymologist either.

"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...
1) Obviously you hve never flown a helicopter. There is plenty of
Hell in Helicopter. They are the only aircraft that fly in spit of
themselves. Baloons want to float, airplanes want to fly.
Helicopters want to roll themselves up into a ball of wreckage at a
moment's notice. Actually, the proper pronumciation should be
"Heel-i-co-petr". That's the way Igor Sikorsky pronounced it, and if
its good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

If you're flying a helicopter, and everything's going well, something's
about to break.

In article ,
h (Rand Simberg) wrote:

But the announcers on CNN did err at least two times:

1. They prounounced Sputnik with a short, instead of the proper long "U".

That's inconsequential nitpicking.

Yeah, I'd be more worried about Americans learning to pronouce Mos-cow
properly (and I don't even mean Moskva).

Or nookular.


2. They said SpaceShipOne won the prize when it succeeded in getting to
"outer" space. I do believe only the Voyager has made it to outer space,
which is really intersteller space, not the near space, which begins just
outside the Earth's atmosphere. SSO just kissed near space at best, since
there is still enough atmosphere at 100km to make orbital flight
problematic.

The real error was to declare the prize won when apogee was attained.
It wasn't won until the spacecraft landed safely (and ultimately, the
altitude was verified, and of course, that it was verified that all
other conditions were met).

It's not won until we reach 0815 (or whatever) tomorrow morning and
check that Brian Binnie hasn't had a heart attack or crashed his car on
the way home from the party.

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

(Peter Stickney) wrote:
[...]
Actually, the proper pronumciation should be
"Heel-i-co-petr". That's the way Igor Sikorsky pronounced it, and if
its good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

And you need the other Igor to write the music for it (Stravinsky)

2) Not only aren't you an Entomologist, you're not an Etymologist,
either.

Yeah, well, just knowing the root doesn't tell you much about current
pronounciation. It *might* tell you about the original
pronounciation, but how many of you can manage Canterbury Tales
without a diction coach?

/dps

(Peter Stickney) writes:


1) Obviously you hve never flown a helicopter. There is plenty of
Hell in Helicopter. They are the only aircraft that fly in spit of
themselves.

They don't fly at all; they're so ugly the ground repels 'em..

2) Not only aren't you an Entomologist, you're not an Etymologist,
either.

and he's no Jack Kennedy, either...

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...
I am not an entomologist so don't come down on me if
anything in this post is off the beam.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words... an "entomologist" studies
insects.

And "folk etymology" is how we get derivations like "fornification under
consent of the king", and "folk entomolgy" is how come my mother thought
that ticks lurked in trees.