Through trip
BUS stops are the new butterflies of chaos theory, discovers Stephen Jorgenson-Murray while perusing Google Maps. Looking for travel routes across Europe, he says, 鈥淚 was pleasantly surprised to find that Frankfurt to Warsaw 鈥� previously a 10-hour journey by train 鈥� was now possible in 5, at one point running in a perfectly straight line for 700 kilometres, in just 3 minutes.鈥�
Sadly, this isn鈥檛 the result of a new bullet train lying under eastern Europe. A bit of investigation led Stephen to deduce that a bus stop in the Mikulczyce suburb of Zabrze, Poland, normally located at longitude 18.79掳 west, has instead been placed at 8.79掳 west. 鈥淏y sheer coincidence, this happened to be right next to Dornheim railway station in Germany,鈥� allowing for quick connections between the two countries.
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鈥淭his tiny error has left Google Maps unable to give accurate train routes across a huge chunk of Europe,鈥� says Stephen. Let鈥檚 just hope that the bus drivers of Mikulczyce aren鈥檛 reliant on Google for directions, lest their passengers suffer a longitudinous detour.
鈥淎 chill wind blows? The UK Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory that 鈥渁lthough there鈥檚 no recent history of terrorism in the British Antarctic Territory, attacks can鈥檛 be ruled out鈥濃��
Why not?
MORE examples of retronyms, words coined by attempts to sound out an acronym, punctuate our inbox. David Roffey informs us of the Sydney suburb with an unusual name: Dee Why. 鈥淭his is definitely a retronym dating back to at least 1840,鈥� says David. 鈥淭hough no one knows what the original DY stood for.鈥�
Lately, the name has mutated a stage further, he says, with the locale being referred to as DW. We look forward to revisiting the topic in 50 years, and telling readers about the strange town of Dee Dubbleyew.
Dodgy characters
MEANWHILE, Lance Hartland writes that 鈥渙kay鈥� might be the only example of a retronym being based on a mis-spelling, explaining that 鈥淥K is the abbreviation of 鈥榓ll correct'鈥�.
Catching some Zs
HOWEVER, John King provides an alternative theory. 鈥淭here is a strong body of opinion that OK is derived from the Scots鈥� 鈥榦ch aye鈥�, suggesting the reverse process of using letters to imitate words.鈥�
John adds that, 鈥渁mong acronyms made into words, perhaps the most notorious is Nazi鈥�, stemming from Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. 鈥�Na is the German n, and tzi is modified tzett, z, taken, perhaps, in preference to the less assertive ess, s.鈥�
More mischaracterisation
AND Tony Griffin complains that the challenge 鈥渉as hijacked my attention off and on for several days now, and so far I鈥檝e only been able to come up with a couple of rather pathetic near-misses: 鈥楤eemer鈥� to describe a vehicle made by BMW, and 鈥楤eemo鈥�, a word referring to the Bank of Montreal.鈥�
Oh dear
HAVING given the issue our full attention for far too many days, we can produce two further examples. Belgian cartoonist Herg茅, creator of The Adventures of Tintin, coined the pseudonym from the reversed initials of his own name: Georges Remi.
And finally, if you鈥檙e getting rather tired of all these retronyms, we have a handy one to add to your lexicon: 鈥渢eal deer鈥�, a dismissive internet slang word taken from the abbreviation of 鈥渢oo long; didn鈥檛 read鈥�.
Power plug
IN A shocking discovery that could solve all our energy worries, David O鈥橬eill writes that his new car battery charger is listed as being suitable for powering up the following items: saloon car, sports car, SUV, pick-up, motorcycle, launch, solar system. The last entry leaves him wondering 鈥渨here I would plug it in, and how long it would take鈥�.
Planet hoppers
MEANWHILE Allan Reese spots the UK鈥檚 i newspaper reporting earlier this month that 鈥渟cientists at Nasa have dubbed the void around Saturn 鈥榯he big empty鈥� after astronauts made their first dive into the space between the planet and its rings and encountered almost no dust or debris鈥�.
It鈥檚 incredible that NASA was able to keep an interplanetary crewed mission quiet for so long, says Allan. Amid plans for a 鈥済rand finale鈥� dive into Saturn鈥檚 atmosphere, Feedback wonders how NASA plans to get the diving astronauts back.
Cosy casks
THOSE who like their beer served warm would do well to pay the Otter Brewery a visit. Adrian Wilkins is told via their website that two-thirds of the ground floor is 鈥� contrary to the name 鈥� built below ground. This sunken floor allows the brewery to do away with expensive climate control systems.
鈥淯sing the Earth鈥檚 core temperature,鈥� explains a promotional beer mat, 鈥渙ur underground cellar saves us 6.5 tonnes of carbon emissions every single year.鈥� Exactly how deep is that cellar?
Ocean cruiser
THE octopus Haliphron atlanticus is not only rare 鈥渂ut appears to have a most unexpected capability鈥�, says Graham Hubbard. He directs us to New 杏吧原创鈥榮 own coverage (8 April, p 19), in which it is claimed that a researcher had seen 鈥溾�� three of them using remotely operated vehicles鈥�.
J is for Iodine
THE assertion made by Andy Ward in these pages 鈥� that there are no elements represented by J 鈥渞ather ignores the German version of the periodic table鈥�, says Alan Wells, 鈥渨here jod (iodine) is represented by the letter J鈥�.
While this may help readers making words from the elemental alphabet, Feedback can鈥檛 help but feel that any words containing a J ought to be German ones, JA?