Re: French

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Larry Sulky <larrysulky@...> wrote:
> Hmm... for me, /raUt/ is something I would usually do with a woodworking
> power tool,
Huh.  That's apparently spelled "rout".  I have only heard the noun
for the tool, which for me is an exact homonym for the network
equipment, so I had assumed that the verb was the same in both cases.

router = route + er: person who directs traffic, or a device for
determining the path taken by data packets on a computer network

router = rout + er: device for making rotationally symmetrical shapes in wood

> or if I utterly defeat my opponent in battle.
... that one I knew was spelled "rout".

> not homophonic with "routed" meaning "directed along a route".
> Are these two meanings of "rout" related to one another? And/or to "route"
> (which, for me, is always /rout/)?
I believe the woodworking term and the directional term are related,
but the "defeat" sense is not - but that belief may have come from my
thinking that the spellings lined up that way as well.

In any case, among American technologists, I don't recall ever hearing
the piece of computer equipment called a /rut/er, only a /raUt/er.
When my UK colleagues called it a /rut/er it confused me at first.

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>