Next message: Bill: "Re: Definition Drift, WAS: Bowditch 1995 Table 18"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Roizen
> unsolicited and pedantic language footnote: The word "arcane" means
> obscure, mysterious, and complicated; the writer was probably intending
> "archaic."
This writer indeed meant archane, as in obscure and complicated with roots
lost in the mists of time. They have no concept of how the rotary motion is
supposed to relate to the terrestial rotation, especially since the watch
dial [sic] normally rotates twice per 24 hours here in the US, while the
planet rotates once per 24 hours, so the analogy behind the analog motion is
incorrect to start with.
"Becoming", as in the older generations have no problem with them. But the
newer generations already have no concept of how to use them. The transition
is across a fast few generations, which are already all present on the
planet. Things become arcane as the knowledge about them dies out, and
barring global extinctions, that takes some time to happen.
