Loaded "HOW LIKELY" questions

[Brent J. Ermlick]

On Fri, Mar 17, 2000 at 03:22:06AM -0500, X99Lynx at aol.com wrote:
	. . .
> How likely is it that the unattested *kwekwlos was applied to the wheel
> independently in two different IE languages, [alledgedly] quite distant from
> one another" and therefore alledgedly not in contact?  If by that you mean,
> how likely is it that two peoples speaking very similar languages with the
> same word for something circular would both independently describe the wheel
> as being circular - well, the better question is probably: why wouldn't they?

In modern times two countries speaking the _same_ language as well
as having very close economic and cultural contacts have developed
different words for new technology:

	wrench		- spanner
	elevator	- lift
	hood		- bonnet
	truck		- lorrie
	streetcar	- tram
	tube		- valve
--
Brent J. Ermlick		Veritas liberabit uos
brent at bermls.oau.org