Introducing….. “Word Of The Moment”

Simon is out, many miles away, in search of new bits of metal for his tractor (to replace the bits that regularly fall off and disappear into the mud or long grass), and I have another hour before I need to do anything with any of the animals. So, I thought I’d use this opportune bit of empty time to write yet another post.

I happened to mention this to my son, in one of our many Windows Live Messenger chats, whilst bewailing the fact that I couldn’t think of anything to write about. In response, he ‘helpfully’ and oh-so-humorously suggested that I might blog about this latest bit of news . After opening the link and having a quick glance through the document it displayed, I was struck by the complete and utter incomprehensibility of it, and felt moved to comment that I think people who write that stuff, or who can read it with interest and understanding, can’t actually be human. However, after spotting one of my all-time favourite words in the introductory Abstract, I was moved to add that I felt heartened to discover that this next-generation space radio telescope (the Astro-G) has a “laser retro reflector array (LRRA) on a moving gimbal”.

I think Gimbal is a great word. It sounds like a child’s made-up word for something sort of…well…childish. As in… “Mummy” Mummy! There’s a gimbal under my bed and it’s eating my lego”. But actually, it turns out that a gimbal is a very important, grown-up and manly sort of thing indeed. A gimbal is, in fact, “a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis.” And here’s the really great thing about it. “A set of two gimbals, one mounted on the other with pivot axes orthogonal, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain immobile (e.g., vertical in the animation) regardless of the motion of its support.”

Now my friend, if that doesn’t just blow you away, I may have to seriously reconsider our relationship. Not only is it a great word – it is a great word for a great invention. It puts me in mind of this entertaining little video clip that Simon drew to my attention a while ago, and which I think provides a delightful and highly appropriate demonstration of the gimballing concept.

And this whole post reminds me of an idea I had a few weeks back, during one of those magic lying-in-bed-after-waking-up-slowly moments, when I briefly thought it might be fun to include a Word Of The Day section on the blog, wherein I would pick a word that seemed for some reason charming, or particularly apposite, or amusing, and then write a blog post around it. But of course the idea of having an any sort of Of-The-Day section in our blog is clearly risible, given a) my aversion to having to do anything on a routine basis, and b) my inability to keep the sort of promise that such a thing would imply. Maybe Word Of The Week then? Hmmm… nah, still too frequent. Word Of The Month perhaps? No. I have a much better idea. How about Word Of The Moment? Because we all know that Moments are strange, random and elusive things that, although they happen all the time, only get properly noticed very occasionally. Just like Words.

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2 Responses to Introducing….. “Word Of The Moment”

  1. Jane says:

    Loving the video-is it real?? Will have to try on your chickens when I come out! It’s no wonder you never have time for anything and can’t make decisions with all this stuff whizzing through your head! Try having an empty head like me!

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