Assume v. Presume

[Trev]

Wound down represents the speed at which it is going to be wound up.

 

[gomezz]

Whichever way, sadly it seems the company has a fatal wound.

 

[MikeSh]

Whichever way, sadly it seems the company has a fatal wound.

Yes, ganGreenous I suspect.

 

[Black Hole]

Here we are, 8 in the morning, and BBC Breakfast has a caption up: Breaking News - Muhammad Ali dies. Can it be "breaking" news when it is an instantaneous event and not a developing situation? Even if it can, I heard that on the midnight news last night, so it's a bit old.

 

[Trev]

Perhaps it should be headlined 'Broken News'.
But whatever you call it, it's 'Sad News'

 

[gomezz]

Going off at a tangent

Why is this taken to mean doing something differently when it literally means carrying on in the same direction?

 

[Black Hole]

Not as catchy as "going off at a perpendicular". Although the tangent to a trajectory is (as you say) equivalent to Newton's first law of motion, in this case it may refer to right angles to the normal - "normal" being an old term for the perpendicular to a surface or line.

 

[Trev]

Going off at a tangent implies that one was stuck going in circles to start with, so rather than continue on that circular path etc. etc. etc.

 

[MikeSh]

^^^ wot he says.
Although I always thought it was "going off on a tangent".

 

[Black Hole]

@

 

[Trev]

I'm with prpr http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/go-off-on-a-tangent

 

[Black Hole]

That's what's wrong with such references - I'm sure such things have regional variations.

 

[kevindickinson]

A local 4 star hotel now offers a play room instead of a dance floor.

 

[EEPhil]

"Ball Room" Is this where you go to play pocket billiards?

 

[prpr]

I'm with prpr http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/go-off-on-a-tangent

Eh? What? Me? Where? When?
I don't remember any of that.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't object to either "off on" or "off at" in this context.

 

[Trev]

AhHa. 'Twas not you my friend, 'twas MikeSh #2109.

 

[Black Hole]

A woman on Woman's Hour was talking about a "microcosmos"

 

[Trev]

Was she talking about THIS

 

[Black Hole]

Nope, I'm convinced she meant "microcosm" but wasn't sufficiently familiar with the word to be attempting it.

 

[Black Hole]