On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:30:07 +0100,
notmyaddress.1.ekulnamsob@wronghead.com (Ekul Namsob) wrote:
 
>David Damerell  wrote:
>
>> Quoting  Ekul Namsob :
>> >For much of my commute, the risk of me killing or maiming another soul
>> >is low, often close to zero.
>> 
>> I've never met a cager who thought they _personally_ weren't dangerous,
>> but tens of thousands of people a year find out that that is wrong.
>
>Indeed. However, you don't know how much traffic is on the roads on
>which I or 'Ace' commute.

My 25 min drive to the office isn't exactly what I'd call a 'commute'
in any case.

-- 
Ace

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:47:41 +0100, Paul Rudin
 wrote:
 
>Ace  writes:
>
>> My 25 min drive to the office isn't exactly what I'd call a 'commute'
>> in any case.
>
>Why not?

Two reasons. One, it's a pleasant drive (or ride, but that takes an
hour or more) mostly through very attractive countryside. Two, having
worked in and around London for many years, sometimes commuting via
rail/tube/bus for up to two hours each way, it just doesn't seem to be
worthy of using the same name to describe it.

-- 
Ace

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:14:44 +0100, Paul Rudin
 wrote:
 
>Ace  writes:
>
>> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:47:41 +0100, Paul Rudin
>>  wrote:
>>  
>>>Ace  writes:
>>>
>>>> My 25 min drive to the office isn't exactly what I'd call a 'commute'
>>>> in any case.
>>>
>>>Why not?
>>
>> Two reasons. One, it's a pleasant drive (or ride, but that takes an
>> hour or more) mostly through very attractive countryside. Two, having
>> worked in and around London for many years, sometimes commuting via
>> rail/tube/bus for up to two hours each way, it just doesn't seem to be
>> worthy of using the same name to describe it.
>>
>
>Shrug, that still fits within any reasonable definition of
>"commute". Your enjoyment or otherwise, and the fact that there are
>longer commutes, are irrelevant.

By that definition anyone who doesn't actually live at their place of
work commutes. "Reasonable" definitions may vary, depending on
personal experience.

>We can all make up our own definitions of words ... but it doesn't help
>communication :/

By declaring xactly what our intended meaning is, or is not? Oh, just
like I did up there^^^. 

-- 
Ace

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:15:57 -0700 (PDT), David Martin
 wrote:
 
>On Sep 22, 8:31 am, Ace  wrote:
>> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:14:44 +0100, Paul Rudin
>>
>>
>>
>>  wrote:
>> >Ace  writes:
>>
>> >> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:47:41 +0100, Paul Rudin
>> >>  wrote:
>>
>> >>>Ace  writes:
>>
>> >>>> My 25 min drive to the office isn't exactly what I'd call a 'commute'
>> >>>> in any case.

>> >Shrug, that still fits within any reasonable definition of
>> >"commute". Your enjoyment or otherwise, and the fact that there are
>> >longer commutes, are irrelevant.
>>
>> By that definition anyone who doesn't actually live at their place of
>> work commutes. "Reasonable" definitions may vary, depending on
>> personal experience.
>>
>
>The term originally arose from those who would buy a season ticket
>rather than individual journey tickets as they could then commute
>their travel. Such people became known as commuters, and that term has
>spread to all who travel regularly to the same place of work.

Ahh. Thanks for that. 

-- 
Ace

Ace wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:15:57 -0700 (PDT), David Martin
>  wrote:
>  
>> On Sep 22, 8:31 am, Ace  wrote:
>>> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:14:44 +0100, Paul Rudin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  wrote:
>>>> Ace  writes:
>>>>> On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:47:41 +0100, Paul Rudin
>>>>>  wrote:
>>>>>> Ace  writes:
>>>>>>> My 25 min drive to the office isn't exactly what I'd call a 'commute'
>>>>>>> in any case.
> 
>>>> Shrug, that still fits within any reasonable definition of
>>>> "commute". Your enjoyment or otherwise, and the fact that there are
>>>> longer commutes, are irrelevant.
>>> By that definition anyone who doesn't actually live at their place of
>>> work commutes. "Reasonable" definitions may vary, depending on
>>> personal experience.
>>>
>> The term originally arose from those who would buy a season ticket
>> rather than individual journey tickets as they could then commute
>> their travel. Such people became known as commuters, and that term has
>> spread to all who travel regularly to the same place of work.
> 
> Ahh. Thanks for that. 

But there's a bit more to it than that; the term has an overtone of working 
in one municipality (usually a city) and working in another. The commuter 
commutes from one place to the other.

Tunbridge Wells to London Bridge is a commuter journey. Tufnell Park to 
Leicester Square doesn't conjure up the same mental image.

Tom Anderson  writes:
> I'm sure it comes from the idea of swapping one for another, but i've
> only ever heard it used to describe a reduction in the severity of the
> sentence - from death to imprisonment, or imprisonment to a suspended
> sentence. I think it has the sense of swapping one thing for another,
> lesser, thing.

Yep.  My (Chambers') dictionary says, among other things,

"to exchange (esp. the death sentence) for a less severe punishment"

Still seems a little odd though: the use of the word "exchange" kind of 
suggests that some other unfortunate offender suddenly gets the death
penalty instead of the 50 pound fine that they'd originally incurred.