Stars and Strides
December 24th 2007 08:19
I’d always thought elliptical meant a way of speaking that worked around the subject. Seemingly, in fact, its meaning is different altogether. Someone is elliptical in speaking is extremely economic in their expression, often avoiding superfluous elements. So says one of the online dictionaries. However, it quotes H O Taylor, who wrote (somewhere or other) ‘The explanation was concise, even elliptical to the point of obscurity.’ Which sounds more like my understanding of the word.
But English, in spite of its huge array of available words, insists on using some of them in an excessively economic way. Thus one small word might have a dozen meanings, or more. And I find that elliptical has at least two others that to me don’t bear much relation to the original meaning.
One of these is that the word is used for a kind of exercise machine. There’s a thing called an elliptical trainer which is a stationery machine on which you can pretend you’re running through the country at great speed. It’s better known to me, I discover, as a cross trainer. I tried one once, and nearly broke myself in two trying to keep my arms going according to the machine’s routine at the same time as my legs. Nasty machines which are not good for the knees.
And then there elliptical in an astronomical sense (not large ellipticals so much as ones in the heavenly realms). An elliptical galaxy is one that has a smooth, featureless light-profile and ranges in shape from nearly spherical to highly flattened, and in size from hundreds of millions to over one trillion stars. Astronomical after all! In fact, try describing one of those concisely. That would teach what ellipticality is all about.
But English, in spite of its huge array of available words, insists on using some of them in an excessively economic way. Thus one small word might have a dozen meanings, or more. And I find that elliptical has at least two others that to me don’t bear much relation to the original meaning.
One of these is that the word is used for a kind of exercise machine. There’s a thing called an elliptical trainer which is a stationery machine on which you can pretend you’re running through the country at great speed. It’s better known to me, I discover, as a cross trainer. I tried one once, and nearly broke myself in two trying to keep my arms going according to the machine’s routine at the same time as my legs. Nasty machines which are not good for the knees.
And then there elliptical in an astronomical sense (not large ellipticals so much as ones in the heavenly realms). An elliptical galaxy is one that has a smooth, featureless light-profile and ranges in shape from nearly spherical to highly flattened, and in size from hundreds of millions to over one trillion stars. Astronomical after all! In fact, try describing one of those concisely. That would teach what ellipticality is all about.
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