Words and Phrases from Industry and Science

[rynner2]

There are plenty of phrases or sayings which derive from domestic or agricultural activities (eg, "A watched pot never boils", "sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind", etc), and many such phrases and activities are almost as old as language itself.

But the language has continued to enrich itself by turning new ideas and techniques into metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech, especially since the Industrial Revolution.

The age of steam especially brought many new trades, all with their own jargon, and many of the specialist phrases used began to break free into the general language.

But an article today headlined
It's just like painting the Forth Bridge - it goes on and on and on...
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1226622007

is what has sparked off this line of thought.

"A £180 MILLION project which was intended to banish the phrase "painting the Forth Bridge" to the history books will fail to achieve its aim.

The scheme to coat the bridge in new paint lasting 25 years and allow the painters to down their brushes for at least a generation has come unstuck.

The massive job will not be completed until at least 2013 - six years after the task was started. This means painters could be back at work after a break of just nine years."

The fact that the phrase became so well known is because such a massive steel structure had been unknown before the age of steam, and by the time it was painted end-to-end it was time to start all over again! Quite a monster example of a never-ending job.


Other more modern examples can be found - the single word "Meltdown" is a powerful metaphor for some process that has gone catastrophically wrong.

If this did not originate with the Chernobyl accident, its use in everyday language was surely reinforced by that accident.

Do you have any other favourite words and phrases of this type? It would be interesting to post early examples of their use, since we are not talking pre-history here!


(Incidentally, I've already used an idea from a scientific theory as a word in this post, a word that has become widespread in its current meaning - can anyone spot it? )

 

[EnolaGaia]

Other more modern examples can be found - the single word "Meltdown" is a powerful metaphor for some process that has gone catastrophically wrong.

If this did not originate with the Chernobyl accident, its use in everyday language was surely reinforced by that accident.

Jeez ... There's something unnerving about a writer focusing on origins of popular phrases who doesn't do his / her homework ...

According to this online dictionary citation (in turn citing the Random House Dictionary):

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meltdown

... the term 'meltdown' dates back to the early 1960's.

I clearly recall the term being in use in the very late 1960's / early 1970's among early anti-nuclear power / environmental activists.

... And (at least in the USA) it was the 1979 Three Mile Island incident that finally pushed the term into mainstream parlance - some 7 years prior to Chernobyl.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I tried to think of phrases or figures of speech from the space program that have made their way into colloquial English (at least American English ...) usage. Some that came to mind were:

- 'reach escape velocity' (used to connote attaining some threshold state for success)
- 'Houston, we have a problem' (invoked as a more staid form of 'Oh sh!t')
- 'That's one small step ...' (facetiously employed to mock some inaugural / original event)

... As these examples illustrate, it's perhaps easier to come up with phrases derived from a specific historical event associated with new technology (the 2nd and 3rd) than phrases referring to the technology / concepts per se (the 1st).

Are these the kinds of examples you're seeking?

 

[PeniG]

critical mass
to get up a head of steam
to run out of gas
to strike while the iron is hot (just because it's ancient doesn't mean it's not technology)

Literature, usually specifically science fiction, also contributes its terms to science - i.e., waldo, robot.

 

[ted_bloody_maul]

What kind of feedback are you looking for?

Also, people being described as having gone ballistic.

 

[rynner2]

Jeez ... There's something unnerving about a writer focusing on origins of popular phrases who doesn't do his / her homework ...

According to this online dictionary citation (in turn citing the Random House Dictionary):

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meltdown

... the term 'meltdown' dates back to the early 1960's.

I clearly recall the term being in use in the very late 1960's / early 1970's among early anti-nuclear power / environmental activists.

... And (at least in the USA) it was the 1979 Three Mile Island incident that finally pushed the term into mainstream parlance - some 7 years prior to Chernobyl.

As someone who studied physics in the early 60s (and later went on to teach it) I am aware of all these facts. But I didn't want to assume that my personal experience of the term applies to everyone.

Three Mile Island was a relatively small incident:
it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community
and caused
only very small off-site releases of radioactivity
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-colle ... -isle.html
whereas Chernobyl caused many deaths, and spread radioactive contamination over half of Europe.

That's why I suggested that 'meltdown' as a term for a total disaster dates from Chernobyl, even though it was already in use as a technical term prior to that. Chernobyl was the dramatic example that proved the doom-sayers right.

 

[Peripart]

There are plenty of phrases or sayings which derive from domestic or agricultural activities (eg, "A watched pot never boils", "sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind", etc), and many such phrases and activities are almost as old as language itself.

"A £180 MILLION project which was intended to banish the phrase "painting the Forth Bridge" to the history books will fail to achieve its aim.

The scheme to coat the bridge in new paint lasting 25 years and allow the painters to down their brushes for at least a generation has come unstuck.

The massive job will not be completed until at least 2013 - six years after the task was started. This means painters could be back at work after a break of just nine years."

I know maths is always developing, but when I were a lad, 25 minus six equalled nineteen!

(Incidentally, I've already used an idea from a scientific theory as a word in this post, a word that has become widespread in its current meaning - can anyone spot it? )

I'll stick my neck out and suggest you're talking about "jargon" - I've not bothered to look up that word's etymology, but I'll bet it meant something quite specific originally.

Virtually every industry has given us phrases in common use, although people are generally quite innocent of their origins. The expressions "lock, stock and barrel" and "going off half-cocked" come from the manufacture and use of guns. I'll have a think of some more, but there's the rest of the forum to browse...

 

[escargot]

'Sparked off.' That's the phrase.

How about 'galvanise', meaning roughly 'make lively'?

And 'electrify'. I've only ever heard that used in relation to audiences, specifically in the phrase 'the audence was electrified'. Perhaps it derives from a particular Victorian review.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Some colloquial phrases / figures of speech that seem to be technologically-derived ...

- to 'get something off the ground' (achieve successful operation)
- to 'achieve liftoff' (same as above)
- to 'bail out' (of some thing or situation)
- to 'kick the tires' (check out something)
- to 'fire it up' (start; put into operational state; may date back to steam engines)
- 'hard landing / soft landing' (to describe relative harshness / impact of an event)
- to 'dock' / 'dock X to Y' (no doubt figuratively dates back to nautical usage, but with space program and computers now also connotes 'mating up in a precise fashion')
- 'AC / DC' (to connote two dissimilar formats or protocols)
- 'return seats and trays to their upright position' (facetious saying to connote 'we're almost done; configure for finish')
- 'shift gears' (to connote a change of state or impetus)
- 'put on the brakes' (to slow down in a figurative sense)
- 'green light / red light' (to connote 'go' or 'no go')

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Some colloquial phrases / figures of speech that seem to be technologically-derived ...

- to 'get something off the ground' (achieve successful operation)
- to 'achieve liftoff' (same as above)
- to 'bail out' (of some thing or situation)
- to 'kick the tires' (check out something)
- to 'fire it up' (start; put into operational state; may date back to steam engines)
- 'hard landing / soft landing' (to describe relative harshness / impact of an event)
- to 'dock' / 'dock X to Y' (no doubt figuratively dates back to nautical usage, but with space program and computers now also connotes 'mating up in a precise fashion')
- 'AC / DC' (to connote two dissimilar formats or protocols)
- 'return seats and trays to their upright position' (facetious saying to connote 'we're almost done; configure for finish')
- 'shift gears' (to connote a change of state or impetus)
- 'put on the brakes' (to slow down in a figurative sense)
- 'green light / red light' (to connote 'go' or 'no go')

I think this has another meaning too

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

Some terms are quite elegant or appropriate - some plain ugly.

I quite like "Browser" and to "surf" the internet as the early Netscape Navigator certainly seemed to come in (slow dial upped) waves of information on the screen.

I find myself complaining of Window Media Player's clunky "interface" though wouldn't applly that to a person sitting at a reception desk.

"Blog" is plain ugly - yes i know its origin -

 

[GNC]

Would describing a story as "riveting" count?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

The expression "lock, stock and barrel" ....come from the manufacture and use of guns.

I think you're probably right, but I also know another:

"Mr. Smith owns this town's general store 'lock, stock and barrel.'"

That is, he owns the lock on the door (and therefore the building), the stock on the shelves and even the cracker (or pickle) barrel.

 

[Peripart]

Incidentally, I've already used an idea from a scientific theory as a word in this post, a word that has become widespread in its current meaning - can anyone spot it?

I'll stick my neck out and suggest you're talking about "jargon"

'Sparked off.' That's the phrase.

An adjudication please, Mr Rynner!

 

[PeniG]

For what it's worth, I thought he meant "reinforcing," which has an engineering meaning; but I think the original usage of the word is likely to be in the military sense - force being the operative term there.

 

[stu neville]

"As". It's the chemical symbol for arsenic.

Failing that, how about "enrich", which has a number of meanings, some scientific or industrial?

 

[rynner2]

The word I had in mind was Revolution, which I thought I'd heard of as dating from the Copernican system, which he introduced in his 1543 work "De Revolutionibus [orbium coelestium]" (On the Revolutions [of the Heavenly Spheres]) which was, at the time, a quite - er - revolutionary theory! ([...] implies added post-Copernicus.)

But looking for a reference for this idea, I discovered that the word had first been used in its modern sense about a century earlier:

revolution

1390, originally of celestial bodies, from O.Fr. revolution, from L.L. revolutionem (nom. revolutio) "a revolving," from L. revolutus, pp. of revolvere "turn, roll back" (see revolve). General sense of "instance of great change in affairs" is recorded from c.1450. Political meaning first recorded 1600, derived from French, and was especially applied to the expulsion of the Stuart dynasty under James II in 1688 and transfer of sovereignty to William and Mary. Revolutionary as a noun is first attested 1850, from the adjective. Revolutionize "to change a thing completely and fundamentally" is first recorded 1799.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

But I suppose this could be another example of a previously existing word being brought to the fore and reinforced by events. (Much like meltdown, in fact!) Anyhow, Copernicus' theory was a revolution, both in name and in its impact upon society.



Coming back to Earth (literally), this from Word Wide Words newsletter:

...the coal seams of Durham and Northumberland, once the capital of coal
(not for nothing was the saying "carrying coals to Newcastle" coined to
refer to a useless undertaking)

(From a piece on Pitmatic: http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/mkdw.htm )

 

[EnolaGaia]

The Latin term 'orbit' (originally for a track or path) has engendered two distinct science / engineering derivatives - the second more akin to the original than was the first ...

orbit (n.)
1392, "the eye socket," from M.L. orbita, transf. use of L. orbita "wheel track, course, orbit" (see orb). Astronomical sense first recorded 1696 in Eng.; it was in classical L., revived in Gerard of Cremona's transl. of Avicenna. The verb is attested from 1946, from the noun.

SOURCE: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=orbit

 

[wembley8]

I remember a few years back when the standard expression for something not being too demanding was to say "it's not brain surgery." These days it seems to have been superceded by the (I believe) American import, "it's not rocket science".

I say, stand up for Britain and brain surgery!

 

[jefflovestone]

These days it seems to have been superceded by the (I believe) American import, "it's not rocket science".

Hmmm, obviously rocket science is a cultural and scientific stumbling block for the Americans with their Operation Paperclip.

 

[rynner2]

Hmmm, obviously rocket science is a cultural and scientific stumbling block for the Americans with their Operation Paperclip.

Shirley you're not suggesting that 'Rocket Science' is a Nazi idea! :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[OldTimeRadio]

"As". It's the chemical symbol for arsenic.

So when the prescription label reads "Take As Needed" my doctor is poisoning me? I thought as much!

 

[OldTimeRadio]

These days it seems to have been superceded by the (I believe) American import, "it's not rocket science".

"I'm no rocket scientist, but...." has become so widespread that I've heard it used by, so help me, a rocket scientist.

My own turn of the phrase, which I made up all by myself, (* stage bow *), is "Look, nobody's asking you to re-wire Philadelphia, but...."

 

[EnolaGaia]

These days it seems to have been superceded by the (I believe) American import, "it's not rocket science".

"I'm no rocket scientist, but...." has become so widespread that I've heard it used by, so help me, a rocket scientist. ...

I had a similar experience in the 1980's. Someone used the phrase "it doesn't take a rocket scientist ..." in a group discussion (to connote something is simple enough to understand) and was rebutted by another (who turned out to be an aerospace engineer) who said, "Well - I *am* a rocket scientist, and ..."

 

[mindalai]

I remember a few years back when the standard expression for something not being too demanding was to say "it's not brain surgery." These days it seems to have been superceded by the (I believe) American import, "it's not rocket science".

I say, stand up for Britain and brain surgery!

Eeee, I remember back when I was a student nurse, on placement in a neurosurgery ward. I thought it would be hilarious to say "Come on, it's hardly brain surgery" to the surgeons when they were talking about complex procedures. I must have used that phrase (or variants of) every day for 2 months. Ah, happy times.

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

"I hear they're planning to put men on Mars."

"Is that difficult?"


"Well it's not rocket science..."






-

 

[OldTimeRadio]

It wasn't rocket science that put John Carter on Mars either.

 

[jefflovestone]

Hmmm, obviously rocket science is a cultural and scientific stumbling block for the Americans with their Operation Paperclip.

Shirley you're not suggesting that 'Rocket Science' is a Nazi idea! :shock: :shock: :shock:

No, just American 'Rocket Science'! :lol:

 

[PeniG]

Americans had rocket science before Operation Paperclip; we just didn't have enough of it to get to the moon. And, I would point out, it took another 20 years after assembling the American and German talent together, to generate the funding and the will to do that.

There is a level at which rocket science boils down to playing with bigger and better fireworks.

I have no idea what, if anything, this means, but Steve Martin takes on both indicators of intelligence in two of his movies. In the modernization of Cyrano de Bergerac, Roxanne, the heroine is involved in the space program. When the object of her superfical attraction, Chris, faces his (justified) feelings of inadequacy to court her, he refers to his mental capacities, then adds defensively: "But hey, it's not like she's a rocket scientist, either." To which the Cyrano figure, played by Martin, has to reply: "Well, actually, she is." And in The Man With Two Brains, Martin plays a neurosurgeon who, in an interview, cheerful confides that he was first attracted to brains because they're so gross and squishy.

I think we're drifting off-topic.

Quite a few abstract concepts, such as structure in mathematics, linguistics, and literature, are derived from engineering. I wonder how many engineering concepts derived originally from biology? Shelters have skeletons and skins, after all. Why do I always gravitate directly toward the areas where categories break down?

 

[jefflovestone]

Americans had rocket science before Operation Paperclip;

I was being facetious.