[ARC5] Some nonsense about drifts and the English language. (Was bearings for DM-28 dynamotors)

[Leslie Smith]

Hi Neil, I suffered hours, nay days, of terror at the hands of my
English teacher, (Mrs) Nancy Collis. This was well before the time when
'Ms' was fashionable, so it's a long time ago. Mrs Collis was the sort
of English teacher who demanded precision in language.

For example, recently I heard an A.B.C. news-reader, who said, "This
afternoon the Chinese and Australian governments officially signed off
on a free-trade agreement."

OMG! If Mrs Colliss heard this she'd ask the news-reader, "Do
governments sign agreements that are unofficial?" No news-reader
worth his salt would dare answer the question in the affirmative, and
after a few moments of embarrassed silence Mrs Colliss might say, "In
your sentence, the word 'officially' adds nothing to the meaning.
Leave it out."

After that, she'd say, "You used the word 'off' after 'sign, so whatever
the government signed had been, it seems, 'on' something. 'Off' is a
preposition. Prepositions denotes position or movement. Do you intend to
convey information about position? I don't think so! A preposition after
'sign' adds nothing to the meaning. Leave it out!"

Having established that the word 'off' has is out of place, it's obvious
the same applies to 'on'. If we don't sign, 'off', there's no point in
signing 'off-on' something.

So the sentence, according to my terrorist-English-teacher, would
become, "This afternoon the Chinese and Australian governments signed a
free-trade agreement." It's now 40 years since Mrs Colliss terrorized
her English classes, but she taught effectively. Sometimes she would
play with words, in the same style as the great Spike Milligan does (or
did) in "The Goon Show".

One problem remains. Mrs Colliss demanded more than a precise use of
language. She demanded factual accuracy, and the document referred to by
the news-reader was a statement of intent only, not a free-trade
agreement, as reported. OMG! OMG! :-(

Now, the 'thingy' used to separate the bearing and the shaft - is it a
drift, a punch, a pin-driver or a podging tool? It's not the 'hit-ee',
so it must be the 'hit-ter'.

If I'm wrong the ghost of Nancy Colliss will appear at the foot of my
bed around mid-night, and terrorize me.



73 de Les Smith vk2bcu at operamail.com


On Wed, Nov 26, 2014, at 11:21, AKLDGUY . wrote:
> Hi Leslie
>
> I laughed when I saw "hitter" and "hittee". It sounded good, lol. I
> just wanted to know whether I was right or my memory was playing
> tricks so I asked the group. Wikipedia needs more info on that page
> obviously.
>
> 73 de Neil ZL1ANM
>
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Leslie Smith
> <vk2bcu at operamail.com> wrote:

>> Hi Neil,
>>
Yes, "drift" was the term commonly used around our workshop, as in
>>
"Bring over the brass drift."
>>
>>
But "hitter" and "hittee" have a literary ring that caught my
>>
imagination for a moment when I was typing.
>>
>>
73 de Les Smith
>>
vk2bcu at operamail.com
>>
>>
>>
On Wed, Nov 26, 2014, at 10:43, AKLDGUY . wrote:
>>
> > Note Mike's point about "brass". The metal "hitter" should be softer
>>
> > than the "hitee" (i.e. the dyno shaft.)
>>
> > Don't hit steel with steel! - Les
>>
>
>>
> Good advice.
>>
> In my earlier days when I overhauled car engines and gearboxes,
>>
> the "hitter" was referred to as a drift. I see on Wikipedia
> that that's
>>
> the name for a hole alignment tool, and no mention is made of an
>>
> impulse inflicting tool.
>>
>
>>
> Perhaps "drift" was a term unique to the UK/British Commonwealth
>>
> when used in that sense?
>>
>
>>
> 73 de Neil ZL1ANM
>>
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