catgate Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 I was just looking at a site, the URL of which Tankus posted some weeks ago, when I realised what a strange appellation "Ground Zero" is.Just what does it mean? How did someone come up with such a peculiar phrase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 Take a number 0 and a food processor.Place the number in the processor.Choose "Very fine" setting and switch on.Voila - "ground zero" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 Take a number 0 and a food processor.Place the number in the processor.Choose "Very fine" setting and switch on.Voila - "ground zero" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 Well that is one explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 An alternative recipe says that you can replace the actual number 0 with one of these ?Main Ingredientbut its a bit more metallic tasting ? (and requires a "jumbo" sized processor) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted September 8, 2007 Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 In th United States, this is our only understanding of Ground Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 In th United States, this is our only understanding of Ground Zero What a sad, sad image. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 In th United States, this is our only understanding of Ground ZeroThat may be. In fact all the world is the same. But that does not explain what the expression means. How did that appalling "event" generate such a weird phrase inexplicable phrase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 ....The original ...? but it was first called the hypocenter ,see page 486 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 Thanks Tankus. That is interesting, I still find it difficult to understand how the phrase got to mean what it does. The coupling of the two words to me seems meaningless. eg water null, air nil, fire nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Thanks Tankus. That is interesting, I still find it difficult to understand how the phrase got to mean what it does. The coupling of the two words to me seems meaningless. eg water null, air nil, fire nothing.You are not alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Ground zero is the spot at which an explosion takes place.The term Ground Zero may be used to describe the point on the earth's surface where an explosion occurs. In the case of an explosion above the ground, Ground Zero refers to the point on the ground directly below explosion. The term has often been associated with nuclear explosions and other large bombs, but is also used in relation to earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction. Damage gradually decreases with distance from this point.Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artist Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 In th United States, this is our only understanding of Ground Zero What a sad, sad image. :(I agree. SUCH a sad image! All those people gone.................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Ground zero is the spot at which an explosion takes place.The term Ground Zero may be used to describe the point on the earth's surface where an explosion occurs. In the case of an explosion above the ground, Ground Zero refers to the point on the ground directly below explosion. The term has often been associated with nuclear explosions and other large bombs, but is also used in relation to earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction. Damage gradually decreases with distance from this point.Hope that helps. No, sorry. it doesn't. The derivation of the expression is still as opaque as ever.Why GROUND when the rest of the Wiki says it can be above ground or under ground. That means it can be in the AIR or below the AIR. Why ZERO . Surely GROUND ZERO means "no ground" (backwards), or Boris' original definition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchful Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Perhaps it means Zero (no) grounds (reason) for perpetrating such an abominable act :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 No, sorry. it doesn't. The derivation of the expression is still as opaque as ever.Why GROUND when the rest of the Wiki says it can be above ground or under ground. That means it can be in the AIR or below the AIR. Why ZERO . Surely GROUND ZERO means "no ground" (backwards), or Boris' original definition.You're thinking too hard about this. Ground zero is a just a slang term used (in place of hypocenter) by the military during weapons testing.The origins of the term "Ground Zero" began with the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Japan. The Oxford English Dictionary, citing the use of the term in a 1946 New York Times report on the destroyed city of Hiroshima, defines “ground zero” as “that part of the ground situated immediately under an exploding bomb, especially an atomic one.”The term was military slang — used at the Trinity site where the weapon tower for the first nuclear weapon was at point 'zero' — and moved into general use very shortly after the end of World War II.The term hypocenter also refers to the point on the surface of the earth directly below an explosion above the ground, in the atmosphere. In principle, it applies to any such explosion but the term was not found to be necessary until the very large explosions of nuclear bombs became a reality. In this context, the term 'ground zero' was synonymous with hypocenter, though the ground zero term has been rendered less precisely useful, as it has been used by journalists and others, ever more loosely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 You're thinking too hard about this. Ground zero is a just a slang term used (in place of hypocenter) by the military during weapons testing.No I don't think so.If I said I was going to trammel the grebe no one, other than a few cognoscenti, would know what I meant. The purpose of words is to explain ideas. They have no other use. If the words used make no sense to the hearer then the words are just verbal scribble. p.s. Please do not ask what trammel the grebe means. I'm not a cognoscenti, I'm from Yorkshire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 No I don't think so.If I said I was going to trammel the grebe no one, other than a few cognoscenti, would know what I meant. The purpose of words is to explain ideas. They have no other use. If the words used make no sense to the hearer then the words are just verbal scribble. p.s. Please do not ask what trammel the grebe means. I'm not a cognoscenti, I'm from Yorkshire.I suppose we're speaking different languages then, because I don't understand what you're getting at.My replies made sense to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 You're thinking too hard about this. Ground zero is a just a slang term used (in place of hypocenter) by the military during weapons testing.No I don't think so.If I said I was going to trammel the grebe no one, other than a few cognoscenti, would know what I meant. The purpose of words is to explain ideas. They have no other use. If the words used make no sense to the hearer then the words are just verbal scribble. p.s. Please do not ask what trammel the grebe means. I'm not a cognoscenti, I'm from Yorkshire.Nowt so queer as (Yorkshire) folk. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchful Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Yorkshire folk have always been unintelligible :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Yorkshire folk have always been unintelligible :lol:Largely due to to Old Peculiar and, to a lesser degree, Thwaites. Though there are rumours of a Pleistocene Ground 0,075 event on Rombolds Moor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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