oblong

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/27/2010 12:55 AM, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>>Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: rectangle vs. square
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>I disagree in the strongest possible terms with at least one of these
>>assertions. To be honest, I have no idea what "oblong" is--in all my
>>mathematical education, I have never heard this even remotely
>>approaching any technical meaning. More precisely, I have never heard
>>it used to any mathematical object or property. But I've also never
>>have heard of anyone seriously contesting that a square is a
>>rectangle.
>
>Yeah, I think "oblong" is the crunch (or one of the crunches) in this
>brouhaha.
>
>{Apropos of nothing, thinking about Victor's "What is an oblong?" it struck
>me that I'd term the shape of a coffin "oblong" rather than "rectangular".
>For what that's worth.}

For what it's worth, some say an ellipse is also an oblong.  (As well
as shapes without four right angles or two foci.)  See OED, "oblong",
A. adj. "1. a. Elongated (usually as a deviation from an exact square
or circular form)".  [Deliberately omitting the "esp. rectangular
with the adjacent sides unequal."]

Joel

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