Re: Clockwise without clocks

[Multiple replies to keep total posts down]

On Wed, Mar 30, 2005 at 07:35:07PM -0700, Muke Tever wrote:
> Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
[...]
> >Think not of the wheel but of the wagon.  Clockwise is
> >the wheel motion of a wagon which is moving to your
> >right, so saying right-wheel, rather than clock-wise,
> >makes perfect sense.
>
> Ah.  I don't know about "perfect" sense, but I see what you
> mean here.   The ordinary way to say that would be
> right-_rolling_, no?   Figured that an unusual choice
> of word there referred to a different kind of action.
[...]

Sorry, I should've said "rolling" instead of "wheeling". I was trying
to describe a possible transliteration from the conlang, where the
rotation words would derive from 'wheel' rather than 'clock'.


On Thu, Mar 31, 2005 at 04:03:23PM -0000, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@Y...> wrote:
[...]
> >>Think not of the wheel but of the wagon.  Clockwise is
> >>the wheel motion of a wagon which is moving to your
> >>right, so saying right-wheel, rather than clock-wise,
> >>makes perfect sense.
>
> --gary
> --- End forwarded message ---
>
> But what of those cultures that don't know the wheel?
Are there any (real) cultures that don't know the wheel? I can't think
of any offhand.


> That's why I prefer using the sun as the referent for "clockwise"
> motion.  I wonder if there is any lexeme in the American Indian
> cultures for this concept, prior to colonization.
[...]

You mean the pre-colonial Amerindian cultures don't know the wheel?
That's interesting.


T

--
Never step over a puddle, always step around it. Chances are that whatever
made it is still dripping.

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