Re: [math-fun] Differential equations. See something, say something.
James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Some math lingo does smack of terrorism: when we talk about Killing,
An SF story by Charles Sheffield made use of this. A scientist hostage said "no Killing vector," which the space pirate interpreted as meaning nobody would be killed, when what the scientist meant is that all spin should be removed from the mini-black-hole so that the spaceship wouldn't do what the space pirate wanted.
... or Lie theory ("A big lie can be easier to sell than a littler", said Hitler).
Unfortunately, it's pronounced "lee." (This was perhaps the most obscure factoid that I found useful during my short career as an audio proofreader, in which I made sure transcripts agreed with the audio they were intended to be the transcript of. A good technical vocabulary was a plus. Too bad they were looking for speed, not accuracy. They're out of business now, mostly for that reason.)
When I was a kid, I thought Euler was pronounced "you-ler". When I first heard someone speak his name as "oiler", I was horrified. Tom Keith F. Lynch writes:
... or Lie theory ("A big lie can be easier to sell than a littler", said Hitler).
Unfortunately, it's pronounced "lee." (This was perhaps the most obscure factoid that I found useful during my short career as an audio proofreader, in which I made sure transcripts agreed with the audio they were intended to be the transcript of. A good technical vocabulary was a plus. Too bad they were looking for speed, not accuracy. They're out of business now, mostly for that reason.)
participants (2)
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Keith F. Lynch -
Tom Karzes