So... - Topic

So...

"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.

Posts: 9423 | Location: England

Ignored post by BobHale posted April 23, 2018 15:38

posted April 23, 2018 19:53

A nice discussion but their info is a bit confusing. It's Episode #7 but that is actually #70 on the list. Took a while to find.

Member

posted April 24, 2018 04:06

"So" takes me back to my college days. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/...200/#isbn=0918286387

Didn't I grouse about "so" on here some while ago? I don't know how to do a search.

Posts: 6187 | Location: Muncie, Indiana

Ignored post by Geoff posted April 24, 2018 04:06

posted May 01, 2018 16:00

BobHale may not want to see this since it features his least favorite speaker, a man who generates significant wind power ihrough gesticulation.

Member

posted May 02, 2018 17:12

He discusses battery sizes, but fails to mention why we English speakers have taken to calling a voltaic cell a battery. "Battery" implies two or more of something. Once upon a time we DID say "cell," but no more. So... why? What a revolting development, I say. We also used to call them "accumulators," which is still the German term. In French it's "pile," presumably because a small one resembles a French hemorrhoid.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Geoff, May 03, 2018 07:14

Posts: 6187 | Location: Muncie, Indiana

Ignored post by Geoff posted May 02, 2018 17:12

Member

posted May 03, 2018 14:01

quote:
Originally posted by Geoff:
He discusses battery sizes, but fails to mention why we English speakers have taken to calling a voltaic cell a battery. "Battery" implies two or more of something. Once upon a time we DID say "cell," but no more.

Did we?

quote:
1748 B. Franklin Let. in Exper. & Observ. Electr. (1751) 26 An electrical battery, consisting of eleven panes of large sash-glass, arm'd with thin leaden plates.

1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art (new ed.) I. 340 When a number of Jars are thus connected it is called a battery.

1801 Sir H. Davy in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 91 400 The third and most powerful class of Galvanic batteries..is formed, when metallic substances, oxidable in acids..are connected, as plates, with oxidating fluids.

1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 162 Zinc, copper, and nitric acid form a powerful battery.

c1865 J. Wylde Circle of Sci. I. 190/1 No arrangement equals Grove's platina battery.

Ignored post by goofy posted May 03, 2018 14:01

Member

posted May 03, 2018 19:02

quote:
1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art (new ed.) I. 340 When a number of Jars are thus connected it is called a battery.

Yep. I remember hearing people say, D cell or C cell or A cell. Several cells in series formed a battery.

Posts: 6187 | Location: Muncie, Indiana

Ignored post by Geoff posted May 03, 2018 19:02

Member

posted May 04, 2018 05:28

I thought you meant that we used to say “battery cell” instead of “battery”, but you meant something else.
I don’t think “battery” implies two or more of something. I don’t see why the fact that we can discuss batteries without mentioning their internal composition is to be regretted.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy, May 04, 2018 05:41

Ignored post by goofy posted May 04, 2018 05:28

Member

posted May 04, 2018 10:55

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_cell
See paragraph two. When/how/why did "cell" imply just one?

Posts: 6187 | Location: Muncie, Indiana

Ignored post by Geoff posted May 04, 2018 10:55

Member

posted May 04, 2018 14:33

quote:
Originally posted by Geoff:
When/how/why did "cell" imply just one?

Just one what?

quote:
In common usage, the word "battery" has come to include a single galvanic cell, but a battery properly consists of multiple cells.[1]

The source for this is the M-W entry for “battery”. But I dont see how M-W provides evidence that “a battery properly consists of multiple cells.” Whether or not a battery “properly consists of multiple cells” is an electical argument, not a linguistic one. I know nothing about electronics.

Or, maybe it’s about specialized electronic vocabulary where “battery” means something different than it does in standard English.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy, May 04, 2018 14:44

Ignored post by goofy posted May 04, 2018 14:33

posted May 04, 2018 17:52

A battery is a collection of cells. The more cells, the higher the voltage. That's why electric cars need such heavy batteries, to get the necessary volts.

Member

posted May 04, 2018 20:36

A battery can consist of one cell, apparently. I’m not sure what the problem is, if there is one.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy, May 04, 2018 21:00

Ignored post by goofy posted May 04, 2018 20:36

Member

posted May 05, 2018 09:56

Oh, well, it's just cranky old me spouting off. Too many years of reading James J. Kilpatrick.

Posts: 6187 | Location: Muncie, Indiana

Ignored post by Geoff posted May 05, 2018 09:56

Kalleh

Member

posted May 06, 2018 19:35

We talked about it here, too.

Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USA

Ignored post by Kalleh posted May 06, 2018 19:35