[Ads-l] WOTY candidate

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)]

There is also a term in optics, "the circle of least confusion," referring to how a non-perfect lens will not focus a beam of light to an infinitely small point, but to something larger that that.

> 
> 
> ----
> 
> GB has a 1977 ex. of "course of least regret" in a NOAA publication and in ref. to hurricanes.
> 
> Early exx. (incl.mine) are in a meteorological/ public safety context.
> 
> GB data suggests that more euphonious "path of least regret" (which appears to be widely applied) is a later development.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 8:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Ah, yes. From  _Get Smart_, ca1966.
> >
> > An actual, not figurative, cone, however.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 9:52 PM, David Metevia
> > <djmetevia at chartermi.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I know about the "cone of silence."
> >>
> >> On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 9:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> >> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >> >
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > The first (more or less) that I encountered was probably "the
> >> > course of least regret," in the late '80s.
> >> >
> >> > JL
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 8:59 PM, Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > Well there's the circle of security, the line of duty and the
> >> triangle of
> >> > > opportunity. I'm sure there are more expressions that fit the
> >> > > template
> >> > "the
> >> > > [geometric object] of [noun ending in -ty]".
> >> > >
> >> > > On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 2:33 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> >> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >> > > wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > > How about "cone of uncertainty"?
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Originally a mystery flavor at Baskin-Robbins.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > JL
> >> > > >
> >> > > > 
> >> > > >
> >> > > --
> >> > > Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
> >> > > Caution-http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . Caution-http://chryss.eu
> >> > >
> >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > > The American Dialect Society -
> >> > > Caution-http://www.americandialect.org
> >> > >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >> truth."
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society -
> >> > Caution-http://www.americandialect.org
> >> >
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - Caution-http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - Caution-http://www.americandialect.org


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