amateur of the day: anti-clockwise (and counter-clockwise)

Sat Aug 27 20:28:07 UTC 2011

My kids - in their teens - don't get it when they ask what time it is
and I answer "quarter to..."  Their preference for the digital clock
is so strong that they have no visual reference for it.

On the other hand, they were preparing to go somewhere with a friend
their age, and the friend said, "Hey, we better get going. It's almost
fifty." Took me a moment to figure out that she meant 00:50, which the
adults in the family would have called "ten of..." or "ten to..."

On Aug 26, 2011, at 8:12 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: amateur of the day: anti-clockwise (and counter-
> clockwise)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No mention of the opposite of withershins/widdershins in any of the
> below, viz. "deasil" (= 'with the apparent direction of the sun',
> i.e. clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere).  Note that "widdershins"
> and "deasil" are respectively clockwise and counter-clockwise in the
> Southern Hemisphere, assuming that one's analog clocks go in the
> same direction there as they do here.  In another generation, nobody
> will know what counter- (or anti-)clockwise refers to.
>
> LH
>
> On Aug 26, 2011, at 2:42 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>
>> The "amateur" is Keith Humphries of RBC blog:
>>
>> http://goo.gl/99OoC
>>
>>> Listening just now to a radio report of the counter-clockwise
>>> spinning
>>> Irene hurricane called to mind a night some years ago when I was
>>> lost in the
>>> Surrey darkness, trying to find the house of an English friend. My
>>> friend
>>> called me and said that I had made a mistake by turning left at
>>> the ring
>>> road, where I should have instead traveled “anti-clockwise”.
>>> I was surprised at the term, which I had never heard before. Its
>>> meaning is
>>> transparent on its face, but what threw me off was that my friend
>>> didn’t use
>>> my mother’s word “widdershins”, which I knew came from her UK
>>> ancestors. To
>>> them, widdershins meant particularly walking around a church with
>>> the wall
>>> always to one’s left rather than right, which could bring the
>>> devil’s curse
>>> of bad luck.
>>
>>
>>
>> Compare OED:
>>
>> withershins | widdershins, adv.
>>> Forms:  15– widder-, 16– wither-, (15 widdir-, weddir-, wod(d)er-,
>>> 15, 18
>>> wooder-); 15–18 -sins, 15– -shins, (15 -syns, -shynes, -shynnis, -
>>> son(n)is,
>>> 15, 18 -sinnis, -sones, 16 -shines, 18 -schynnes).... (Show More)
>>> Etymology:  < Middle Low German weddersin(ne)s (compare wedersins
>>> ‘contrario modo’, Kilian), < Middle High German widersinnes, <
>>> wider-wither-
>>> prefix + genitive of sin (especially Middle German) = sind, sint
>>> way,
>>> direction (see sithe n.1): compare Middle High German widersinnen
>>> to return.
>>> In sense 2 associated with son, sun n.1... (Show Less)
>>> dial. (chiefly Sc.).
>>> †1. In a direction opposite to the usual; the wrong way; to stand
>>> or start
>>> withershins , (of the hair) to ‘stand on end’. Obs.
>>> 2. In a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun
>>> (considered
>>> as unlucky or causing disaster).
>>>
>>
>>
>> withershin(s) | widdershin(s), adj.
>>> Etymology:  < withershins adv.
>>> Moving in an anticlockwise direction, contrary to the apparent
>>> course of
>>> the sun (considered as unlucky or sinister); unlucky, ill-fated,
>>> relating to
>>> the occult.
>>
>>
>>
>> Note "anti-clockwise" both in the adj. lemma and in the blog post.
>> Anti-clockwise has examples from 1898 to 1927, but that's still not
>> as
>> out-of-date as counter-clockwise, which only has two--1888 and 1890.
>>
>> GB search for {anticloskwise | "anti-clockwise"} <1898 returns 272
>> raw
>> ghits, 52 raw for <1888, 12 actual, including three spuriously
>> tagged and 9
>> math texts.
>>
>> http://goo.gl/kzjBv
>> Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Volume 29. June 19, 1879
>> On the Secular Effects of Tidal Friction. By G. H. Darwin. pp. 176-7
>>
>>> i. Then in fig. 1, for all points of the line of momentum from C
>>> through E
>>> to infinity, /x/ is negative and /y/ is positive; therefore this
>>> indicates
>>> an anti-clockwise revolution of the satellite, and a clockwise
>>> rotation of
>>> the planet, but the m. of m. planetary rotation is greater than
>>> that of the
>>> orbital motion.
>>> ...
>>> ii. For all points of the line of momentum from D through F to
>>> infinity,
>>> /x/ is positive and /y/ is negative; therefore the motion of the
>>> satellite
>>> is clockwise, and that of the planetary rotation anti-clockwise,
>>> but the m.
>>> of m. of the orbital motion is greater than that of the planetary
>>> rotation.
>>
>>
>>
>> One of the other hits (1939) is a dictionary that lists
>> sinister==climbing
>> anti-clockwise.
>>
>> Similar search for counterclockwise yields 331 raw ghits <1888, 9
>> <1877,
>> including 7 spuriously tagged. The remaining 2 are from the same
>> year.
>>
>>
>> http://goo.gl/rLwaK
>> Principles of Mechanism. 2nd ed. By Robert Willis. London: 1870
>> p. 158
>>
>>> Consequently if the screw be left handed, it must be turned counter
>>> clockwise to enter a fixed nut, or put a movable nut in action
>>> upon the
>>> extremity of its screw.
>>
>> p. 233
>>
>>> Thus a series of points is obtained through which the curves can
>>> be drawn
>>> as in Fig. 228 and theoretically they satisfy the condition of
>>> equalising
>>> the velocity of the reciprocating piece. If the lower curve, which
>>> is the
>>> driver, be rotated counter-clockwise its increasing radii will
>>> enable it
>>> to press against the decreasing radii of the follower until the
>>> concave
>>> salient point which terminates the long diameter of the driver is
>>> brought
>>> into contact with /b/.
>>
>> p. 428
>>
>>> We have already seen that the arrangement of the cord /DW/
>>> prevents the
>>> cylinder from revolving counter-clockwise, and leaves it free to
>>> be turned
>>> the reverse way, while on the other hand the motion given by
>>> raising and
>>> lowering the knob *G *grasps the cylinder and communicates
>>> rotation to it.
>>> As this rotation is in the direction of the clock, when the knob
>>> is raised
>>> the cord *BW *serves merely to steady the motion.
>>
>>
>>
>> http://goo.gl/jvJPb
>> Geometric Optics. By Osmund Airy. London: 1870
>> p. 18
>>
>>> For convenience the algebraic sign of the moment is said to be /
>>> positive/
>>> when the moment tends to turn the body in a direction /counter-
>>> clockwise/,
>>> and /negative/ when it tends to turn the body in the /clockwise/
>>> direction.
>>
>> pp. 51-2
>>
>>> 30. ... If the couple tends to produce rotation in the clockwise
>>> direction, the moment is said to be negative; and if
>>> counterclockwise,
>>> positive.
>>> 31. Representation of Couples. -- The couple involves magnitude
>>> (moment)
>>> and direction (rotation), and may, therefore, be represented by an
>>> arrow,
>>> the length of the line being proportional to the moment of the
>>> couple, and
>>> the arrow indicating the direction of rotation. In order to make
>>> the matter
>>> of direction of rotation clear, the agreement is made that the
>>> arrow be
>>> drawn perpendicular to the plane of the couple on that side from
>>> which the
>>> rotation appears counter-clockwise.
>>> 32. ... The moment arrow of the resultant couple will be
>>> perpendicular to
>>> the cover of the book and on the side from which the rotation
>>> appears
>>> counter-clockwise. ...
>>
>> p. 169
>>
>>> Angular velocity involves a magnitude and a direction, and may,
>>> therefore,
>>> be represented by an arrow (see Fig. 119), the length of the arrow
>>> representing the magnitude and drawn perpendicular to the plane of
>>> motion
>>> such that if you look along the arrow, from its point, the motion
>>> appears
>>> positive or negative; positive if counter-clockwise and negative if
>>> clockwise.
>>
>>
>>
>> Both conventions (left-handed screw==counter-clockwise; positive
>> direction
>> of rotation==counter-clockwise) are fairly standard today, so it's
>> interesting to find both in the same year, but it is doubtful
>> either one is
>> original.  In fact, I am absolutely shocked that there is nothing
>> in GB
>> earlier than 1870 for either term. No point post-dating either one,
>> as they
>> are quite common (well, one more than the other). In any case, both
>> need
>> updated quotations on both ends.
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org