Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #03252
To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: "Jean auBois" aubois@trail.com
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 20:59:11 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Inspiration
Someone (un-named to protect the quasi-innocent) recently wrote:
>I just got some great inspiration to turn my (mobile, wheeled thing) into a
PhotoTroph
A small lesson in semantics:
"tropic" means "to turn" (Etymology: Middle English tropik, from Latin
tropicus of the solstice [that is, the sun seems to "turn" at the
solstices], from Greek tropikos, from tropE turn). It does not mean to turn
towards (which is a positive tropism) nor does it mean to turn away (which
is a negative tropism). If people would just use positive and negative when
describing tropisms, we wouldn't be using such stupid terms such as
"photophobic" which is more likely to be found in something/someone that has
rabies or a serious mental disturbance. Do your robots have serious mental
problems or a usually fatal disease???
I realize that the use of "phototropic" is so engrained in BEAM culture that
there is no hope for correcting its usage. Oh well.
In no case is it a "troph". As defined in the online WWWebster Dictionary,
Main Entry: troph-
Variant(s): or tropho-
Function: combining form
Etymology: French, from Greek, from trophE nourishment
: nutritive
That is, unless you are thinking of something that is supposed to be a sort
of photovore...
signed:
Just a mean JAB to the jaw
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