[Ads-l] Obsolete term: "gas pedal" in an electric car =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=93_?=alternatives "potentiometer" or "accelerator"

[George Thompson]

Do people really speak of the "gas pedal"?  Seems to me that it's most
often just the "pedal" -- "I stepped on the pedal" -- applicable to
whatever form of energy is employed.

GAT

On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 9:11 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Mark Mandel (MAM) wrote:
> > Well, we still call the panel in front of the driver a "dashboard", even
> > though it no longer is
> >
> >  A panel at the front of a horse-drawn vehicle that projects up to
> protect
> > the riders from mud, water, or snow kicked up by the horse or horses.
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ahdictionary.com_word_search.html-3Fq-3Ddashboard&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=hUiq6pXsu-0MLM4Wzdiyyyn42Es6YkbA-KC325fsQKs&s=hOwLqX1S69vGR0-GyoMtp8lOQvLPjB8i4iZLTBT-Cws&e=
>
> Excellent example and good point, MAM. Here is another example, I think.
>
> The word "pen" is still in use, and it is even used for an electronic
> stylus. Yet, the Online Etymology Dictionary says "pen" is derived
> from: late 13c., from Old French pene "quill pen; feather" (12c.) and
> directly from Latin penna "a feather, plume," …
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.etymonline.com_word_pen&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=hUiq6pXsu-0MLM4Wzdiyyyn42Es6YkbA-KC325fsQKs&s=PDIh3B41CRIU-YOcuvhIas0tBnRR1vFpKOHlnFE8E90&e=
>
> Perhaps the etymologies of "pen" and "dashboard" became sufficiently
> opaque that their semantics shifted without major resistance. I
> suspect that the meaning of "gas" in "gas pedal" is  still relatively
> transparent. Hence, it will be more difficult for the semantics to
> shift to include the accelerator pedal of an electric car.
>
> Garson
>
> > > A participant in a YouTube video discussion about the engineering of
> > > electric cars started to say the phrase "when I step on the gas
> > > pedal", but he stopped before saying "gas pedal". After a delay he
> > > suggested "potentiometer" (I think), and another participant suggested
> > > "accelerator".
> > >
> > > Website: YouTube
> > > Title: Sandy Munro: Model 3 manufacturing, Model Y wiring, and EV
> > > competition
> > > Date: Aug 19, 2019
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3Di93VJ1PEp6o&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=hUiq6pXsu-0MLM4Wzdiyyyn42Es6YkbA-KC325fsQKs&s=xLgLV_jFatTh3Sr1V1kuvv_4CojYtKctrzLQyGAf33M&e=
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=hUiq6pXsu-0MLM4Wzdiyyyn42Es6YkbA-KC325fsQKs&s=qrDc3cbt7X0pAtfSTZHsG0BZD2eKQlaJ2bB4NUcFnbw&e=
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=hUiq6pXsu-0MLM4Wzdiyyyn42Es6YkbA-KC325fsQKs&s=qrDc3cbt7X0pAtfSTZHsG0BZD2eKQlaJ2bB4NUcFnbw&e=
>


-- 
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.

But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
your lowly tomb. . .
L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112

The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
picture of his great-grandfather.)
http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851

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