Muster Stations and Disabled Toilets

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Wed Feb 27 04:47:47 UTC 2002


   Greetings from Nelson, New Zealand.  Unfortunately, my stay at Middle Earth ("Wellington" in your language) was short, and I had no time to go to the National Library.

MUSTER STATION--Not in the revised OED?  Google shows plenty of hits.  The ferry from Wellington had this sign:
   A Muster Station is a spece where passengers will be required to assemble in the event of an emergency.  Muster Stations are identified by a square green and white sign with an arrow in each corner pointing in words to a symbol depicting a family group.

DISABLED TOILET--Another sign on the ferry.  Who wants a toilet that's disabled??

RANK AND YANK--Still catching up on reading.  From BUSINESS 2.0, March 2002, pg. 74, col. 1:
   Enron is just one of many firms with "rank and yank" plans that call for the annual removal of a specified portion of the workforce.

POCKET SANDWICH--From BUSINESS 2.0, March 2002, pg. 29, col. 1:
   _Pocket sandwich_  A couple of years ago, Natick developed bread that won't go stale.  Its scientists showed that by lowering the bread's acidity and by chemically bonding water to other molecules in the bread, it could create a product that would stay fresh for as long as three years.  The resulting pocket sandwich (developed by Natick and Goodmark Foods, maker of the Slim Jim) comes in six varieties--including barbecue chicken and pepperoni--that scored well in field tests with soldiers.

SLOW FOOD--The opposite of "fast food."  There's an article on it in CAPITAL TIMES (Wellington), 27 February 2002, pg. 21, col. 2:
   Thirteen years ago, its founder Carlo Petrini looked around Rome, which was sprouting McDonalds' fast food outlets, sniffed a greasy hamburger smell wafting in the air and said "that is enough."
   The antithesis of fast food, the slow food movement's philosophy was based around promoting public awareness of culinary traditions and preventing the standardization of food. (...)
   If you are interested in becoming a member of Aotearoa Slow Food  contact slowinfo at mariapias.com.



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