[Ads-l] excursion

Sun Jan 14 17:03:23 UTC 2018

I've heard "excursion" used by safety engineers. For example, "nuclear
excursion" has been used to refer to accidents at nuclear facilities.
Here is an example from 1958.

Date: September 4, 1958
Newspaper: The Greenville News
Newspaper Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Article: Enriched Uranium Drains Info Drum, 'Goes Critical'- 8 Workmen Hurt
Newswire: UPI
Quote Page 34, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
A combination of circumstances, including human error, caused a
nuclear reaction that exposed eight workmen to dangerous radiation
here, the Atomic Energy Commission reported Wednesday.
. . .
The committee also warned that while this "nuclear excursion" might
have been avoided by mere rigorous precaution, "A nuclear accident
will always be within the realm of possibility whenever potentially
critical quantities of fissionable material are being handled.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 8:20 AM, David Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> Evidently it's a standard aviation term. I was familiar with "runway incursion," but had never heard the antonym.
>
> https://www.faa.gov/airports/runway_safety/excursion/
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2018 6:57 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] excursion
>
> A Pegasus Boeing 737 packed with passengers has skidded off the runway in Turkey and slid down a headland nearly into the Black Sea, where it perched nose down till rescue equipment could be mustered.
>
> Airline authorities describe the event as a "runway excursion incident."
>
> http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42680238
>
> Predictably, a cursory Google search  finds exx. back to 2004-2005.
>
> JL
>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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