>Typical (and globally recognized) datum names include things like
>"North American Datum 1927" and "World Geodetic Survey 1972".
In Saint Paul, Zero City Datum is the elevation at a point on the
Mississippi river set in 1850 or something. It is now defined as being
694.40 feet above USGS Sea Level.
All elevations on city maps of sewers and streets are given in City Datum.
So a word like "Datum" can get far afield of it's "pure" meaning. Take
"plastic", for example. It is supposed to be an adjective for something
soft and formable. Yet every American knows about objects mass-produced in
"hard plastic".
"Battery" is another one. A battery was a group of cannon (or is that
"cannons") used to batter the invader. Thus we have Battery Park in
Manhattan. A battery of cells is used to start your Triumph in the morning.
But every American knows about "flashlight batteries". The irony here is
that each flashlight battery is a single electrical cell. Do "electric
torches" in the UK run on "batteries" or "cells"?
Phil Ethier West Side Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/ http://www.vtr2002.org
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