I think Will is onto something here -- I have heard old teamsters
(horse and oxen) in NEW England refer to the 'nigh' horse in a two-horse
hitch. These same people brought us 'gee' and 'haw'. As for the orbital
diameter in hydrogen, that's pretty fuzzy too, according to quantum
mechanics.
Len Bugel
Once and future TD driver
On Fri, 29 Sep 1995, Will Zehring wrote:
> >
> >
> >And I know of offside in football and hockey, but what's the "OFF SIDE" of
> >my B?
> >
>
> Okay: offside: bear in mind that in England (there'll always be one) folks
> drive on the 'wrong' side of the road (i.e. the left side) in a car where
> the steering wheel is also on the wrong side (i.e. on the right side). So,
> the passenger's side of the car (i.e. the left side) is the "near side"
> because it is the side nearest the curb. Hence, the driver's side is the
> "off side," by default, as it 'twere, in a manner of speaking, don't you
> know, because afterall, one can't have a car with two "near sides" now, can
> one? That sounds faguely anti-British, doesn't it? Instead of calling the
> opposite of the "near" side the "far" side (like the cartoon), someone
> called it the "off" side, but refused, categorically, to rename the "near"
> side the "on" side. Hence, your confusion.
>
> This probably dates, as does almost everything in England, to the umpteenth
> century and to which side of the carriage you alighted, as the saying goes.
> Count on the English to devise a terminology that depends not upon absolutes
> (like, say, the electron's orbital diameter in a hydrogen atom) but on your
> community's convention for road manners.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Will "is it Friday yet?" Zehring
>
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