I know what both of them mean, I'm saying it's not a word someone outside of politics or law would use very often or ever.
Obscure Canwest Canspell Words
- Thread starter dumpthemonarchy
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I know what both of them mean, I'm saying it's not a word someone outside of politics or law would use very often or ever.
...unless they wanted to give the "impression" they were knowledgeable on a web forum
Wonder what ever happened to vcullen. If he's here he's not showing himself to us. I kind of miss him.
JLM, it is a term used in Parliamentary business, along with ‘prorogue’. FP mentioned ‘prorogue’, so that reminded me of ‘sine die’. Google for ‘sine die’ and you will find out.
Incidentally, ‘sine’ here is not pronounced as the word ‘sign’, but it is pronounced as ‘psy-nay’.(pronounce ‘psy’ as you would in ‘psychology’).
I miss him too, he was fun to debate with. Ironsides reminds me very much of Vcullen (they both have similar views and similar writing style), but I suppose it is not the same person.
Awhile ago I subscribed to Answers.com. They now send me daily updates and one of their features is guessing the correct spelling of words. They give me the definition and then I get to check the correct spelling from a choice of four, I think, different ones. I have seen some truly obscure words from them.
I did in fact google it and then realized right away that I should have been able to figure out the literal meaning at least knowing that "die" is Latin for day and "sine" is Latin for without, but the brain cells don't last forever.
I didn't give him any thought lately but now that you mention him I do recall him as one of the more sensible posters, pretty much "had it together".
lol
Gadzooks, what an odd thread!
BTW, berms are used in construction, mining, etc.
The word berm is used in land surveying all the time. A road shoulder is often called a berm.
What do you think of the word "entropy"
Definitions from reference.com
Definitions from reference.com
- Symbol S For a closed thermodynamic system, a quantitative measure of the amount of thermal energy not available to do work.
- A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.
- A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.
- The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
- Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.
In common parlance, entropy means disorder. Greater the entropy, greater the disorder in the system.
If universe is a closed system, its entropy is ever increasing, the universe is winding down. But then the question is, what wound it up in the first place?
If universe is a closed system, its entropy is ever increasing, the universe is winding down. But then the question is, what wound it up in the first place?
The universe is supposed to be expanding though, how can it be a closed system? It seems a little big to called closed.
I first noticed the word discussing modern art. The author calling modern art basically crap. If artists see the future, and they have, using perspective and light in new ways, then this is not good news.
Universe is expanding, but it is considered a closed system by scientists. By universe is expanding, we don’t mean that it is expanding in the surrounding space. It is not that universe is situated in the space and it is expanding in that space. Then universe won’t be a closed system, it will interact with its surroundings.
But there are no surroundings. Universe is not expanding in a space, but the space (which is the part of the universe) itself is expanding. The common analogy scientists give is that of a balloon. Imagine spots on the surface of the balloon. As balloon expands, the spots move away from each other. Now consider the surface of the balloon (and not the balloon itself) as analogous to space. The spots are not moving away from each other in the surrounding space, they are moving away from each other because the space itself is expanding.
So universe is very much a closed system (at least that is the current scientific thinking).
But there are no surroundings. Universe is not expanding in a space, but the space (which is the part of the universe) itself is expanding. The common analogy scientists give is that of a balloon. Imagine spots on the surface of the balloon. As balloon expands, the spots move away from each other. Now consider the surface of the balloon (and not the balloon itself) as analogous to space. The spots are not moving away from each other in the surrounding space, they are moving away from each other because the space itself is expanding.
So universe is very much a closed system (at least that is the current scientific thinking).
Berm is also a tem used in the construction of firing ranges. It is a term I have grown to despise as we have been vehemently coerced to construct them to ever more rigorous standards in order to conform to regulations put in place by an effete collection of statists to placate the nattering nabobs of disarmament.
I get the feeling that "berm" is a word that is hanging on to it's place in the English language by it's fingernails...;-)
Au contraire, methinks. AS the world gets more crowded there will be more of them for noise attenuation and protection from flying "missiles":lol::lol::lol: