What The Hail??? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

When David Letterman was a weatherman on television in Indiana in the
1970's, I believe he got in trouble for describing hail as having the
"size of canned hams".

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Marc Velasco
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:01 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: What The Hail???
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Marc Velasco <marcjvelasco at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: What The Hail???
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> In all my experience with Midwest thunderstorms, _coin_-sized
> hail was perhaps the most common denomination of hail, with
> dime-sized hail being particularly popular with the clouds
> and the cloud-trackers.
>
> Common terms: pea-, dime-, golfball-, and baseball-sized
> hail; although, it needs be said that baseball-sized hail was
> rarely reported live, but common in "big storm" stories.
> Lawyers might further say that this list includes, but is not
> limited to, the above mentioned terms.
>
> Perhaps the dime-, nickel-, quarter- usages are due to lack
> of common spherical objects near those sizes.
>
> On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 9:06 PM, Joel S. Berson
> <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: What The Hail???
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> > In 18th-century New England, hail was compared in size to
> gunshot or
> > fowl eggs.  But all spherical.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 8/10/2008 04:05 PM, Scot LaFaive wrote:
> > >I don't see the unusual aspect of this. In Wisconsin I've
> heard all
> > >sorts of hail sizes: nickel size, dime size, quarter size,
> golfball
> > >size (though spherical).
> > >
> > >Scot
> > >
> > >On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Doug Harris
> <cats22 at frontiernet.net>
> > wrote:
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
> > > > Subject:      What The Hail???
> > > >
> > >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> > > >
> > > > Just received from the National Weather Service in Albany NY:
> > > >
> > > > AT 324 PM EDT.NATL WEATHER SVC DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
> A  SEVERE
> > > > THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING NICKEL SIZE HAIL.AND
> DAMAGING
> > > > WINDS
> > IN
> > > > EXCESS OF 60 MPH.
> > > >
> > > > That ain't no two-bit storm, but is maybe a Guinness-booker, if
> > > > it's producing hail of _that_ size. (I always thought hail was
> > > > more or less spherical. Less, apparently, in this instance.) dh
> > > >
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Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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