Ytpmud-ytpmuh

[tigerfort]

As I wandered through our local supermarket, not buying anything (it was cold and dark and I wanted a walk somewhere that was air-conditioned and not raining), the label on a pack of bottles for minimising the hassle you get from airport security caught my eye. It asserted that the 100ml bottles in the bag were suitable for "All gels, foams, pastes, and other liquids". Is it unreasonable for me to feel that even the marketing nerk who wrote the text should have been able to identify that "gels, foams, [and] pastes" are by definition emphatically not liquids? Is that specialist knowledge that I shouldn't expect people to possess? (And if I asked for comments explaining the relevance of this posting's title, who would be first?)

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

I fear we have a shifting 'security context' definition of liquids which can only cause confusion and misinformation.

[colinbj.livejournal.com]

I think the term 'fluid' can reasonably be applied to anything that is currently behaving in a fluid manner, including collectively, say grain in a silo. But yes liquid is rather more specific.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

I would have more sympathy with fluid, certainly, although by no means all gels or foams can be relied upon to act as one. Paste might be a more complex issue; I suspect almost any paste will flow under gravity, given enough time. But "enough" might be rather a lot, in some cases.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

"Now, when I use a word, it means whatever I want it to mean!"?

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Applause, a genuine(tm) Internet Point, and a cookie. (Bonus question: why is it backwards?)

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Errrrmmmm -

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Because when someone else expresses a meaning, they should use the correct word?

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Also correct. Thus, I was being a reverse Humpty-Dumpty.