Stephen Hawking had a quite a good stab at this subject, but there were several omissions. (He’ll be dead gutted you said that! LO,TG Ed)
He left out the derivations of certain words and the reasons why they are associated with time.
Decade.
When this was first introduced into the English language it was not a definite time span. It derives from deaf-aid. Great Uncle Albert was forever asking what the time was but was extremely hard of hearing, so never heard the answer. He repeated the question almost constantly for the last 8 years of his life – it seemed longer of course and was rounded up to describe 10 years.
Hour.
This was the time allocated to Peers of the Realm by the ladies of the knights. Sir William Malmesbury used to pop out after supper and say “I’ll be back after a whore.” Chinese whispers perverted this to ‘hour’ amongst his servants, who were all recruited from Sidcup BTW. The description of the beginning of time as the ‘Big Bang’ has no connection.
Seconds.
Derived from the same word as itself. Alfred Fairweather from Basingstoke, known locally as Fat Boy Slime because of the hovel he lived in, was an extremely greedy man – indeed his life ended with a rather dramatic explosion. As soon as food arrived on his plate he almost immediately demanded ‘seconds!’. This time span was measured by scientists in the 15th century, who discovered it fitted exactly 60 times into a minute/tiny whore, which in turn fitted 60 times into a full whore. The symmetry appealed to them and they adopted the word to describe that length of time. Obviously they also adopted the word minute.
I’m just going to re-read Stephen’s effort to check up on what else he missed.
.
Stumble It!
9 Comments
I’m sure Hawking left something out of the chapter on black holes, I was lost after about 3 paragraphs. Perhaps you could enlighten us?
I would of course GW, but as this blog is for family viewing with very high moral standards, I really can’t go into details here.
Problem is….it’s past midnight here…and I am waning while you are waxing…or is it the other way around?…I can’t remember?…anyhoo…I am quite sleeepy & verrrrry tired….but wanted to pop over & say HI before I pass out!!! ….and XOXO too!!!!
How did you know I was waxing!!!?! ….. anyhoo, lovely to see you Olga …… have a lovely rest and wake up tomorrow refreshed and perky …… *kissy kissy*
very good effort but you missed out days [daze]… that there what I is in after reading your BB theory fillers …
[TG seems to have picked up some Norvernism 'dead gutted' well done]
I’m almost sure that wot I wrote was post ironic modernism, with a touch of Lowrie for good measure. That’s Bert Lowrie, of course.
I have a nasty suspicion that the TG has gone through a time warp ……..
ah TG post ironic modernism…I should have spotted that, silly me
DP it must seem like a time warp for lovely TG after all these years living with you wearing her skirts and looking like the invisible man
http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/uploaded_images/Invisible-Man-780294.jpg
70’s condition is now the official derivation of ‘days’ – must update Daddipedia ……..
did you mean daddypedia ?
http://daddypedia.co.uk/default.aspx
No no no …… definitely Daddipedia …… or is that just one of those many voices I hear …… mmmmm?
or even weeks ……or weak – which is how I feel after reading them!!!
Daddipedia needs another update now …… will my work never be finished? ……. oh dear
I fear not, you forgot Munfs as well.
http://nospacesnospecials.com/2009/08/17/gitwiz-garden-tips-1/
Thank you for that GW ….. the whole history of time is now being rewritten …….
My mind is going…Dave….
http://raincoaster.com/2009/08/12/stephen-hawking-never-stood-a-chance/
He gets everywhere doesn’t he? I have a theory about that ………
I just now remembered Vonnegut. I couldn’t remember the name the other day when I wrote Orwell. Oh my you are reading too too much!!
You need to stay on the PC and visit all of us not so genius types!!
I won’t ask what you were waxing okay?
I’m glad you’re feeling better. Oh dear Pam teaches Modernism. Could you at least stick to that period so I can get the answers?
Big hugs and bunches of love,
me:-)))
I normally only read books that have pictures in them …. if they don’t I scribble my own – tee hee [that's a bit naughty isn't it? ..... particularly books from the library - whoops]
i am so glad this is still up, I just got to thinking about something. DUH- can there be such a thing as Post Modernism?
I don’t think so. Well technically yes there is but all of the writes would be dead.
See the things you send me to bed wondering about. As for the old ruins that would be a perfect spot for you.
You could spend a little while exploring and then head down the road about 1/2 mile to your air conditioned houseboat with DirectTV, have a spot of tea out on your deck and watch the ladies sun bathing and plating in the water.
Happy day and big big hugs just especially for you DP,
Jackie…XX’SS too!!
Did I suggest ‘Googling’ post modernism before? I did and was none the wiser afterwards ….. the whole thing seems to be completely incomprehensible …..
You’re painting a lovely picture there Jackie ….. I don’t know if the TG would approve though!!
Please disregard the grammar and spelling. I am still working on my first cup o’ coffee this morning!!
Will do …… [bites tongue - tee hee]
Wow, I’m sorry I have been out of pocket for awhile. If you have read his unofficial autobiography you’ll notice that his name was changed from “Walker” because it seemed to be a glaring non-sequitur. He changed it to “Hawking” because of his childhood desire to sell merchandise to the public. Obviously, that didn’t pan out, but his future protege, Anthony Sullivan took the ball and ran. Hawking settled on Theoretical Physics as a profession but maintained the name “Hawking” because few people could correctly spell “Continuum. “
I got so wrapped up in my little sidebar, I forgot to actually comment on the nature of the post. I’m glad you cleared all this up for me… the whole 60 second, 60 minute thing never made sense, but the veil has been removed…
There is so much we don’t know about him – your additions are a great help Jamie ……. the mysteries of the Universe will be fully explained soon which will just leave that knotty problem of goddesses and how do they tick …… and why do they ‘tsk’ so much ……