Wind blows northerly...
POSTED BY: sab39
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 19:16
VIEWED: 7116
PAGE 2 of 2
Good point. My Random House Unabridged says that as an adverb, 'northerly' can mean either "toward the north" or "from the north", with the former meaning being given first.
The ambiguity would not be a problem if Mal had said "northward" instead of "northerly". But I think the latter is more in keeping with Mal's Western lingo.
In any case, this isn't one that's going to keep me up nights worrying about it. 
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I don't disagree on any particular point.
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Exactly. What Mals refrencing to is if anybody is after him (Alliance or otherwise) he runs in the opposite direction. Mal isn't one to run from a fight but he likes to stay out of trouble.
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I've done some sailing and it kind of works out like this. Usually when you sail you are not aiming to be pushed by the wind. You are trying to be pulled by it, like a wing. So when the wind blows from the north, or northly, you sail as close into as you can. You can't sail directly north, but you try to get as close to it as you can. So when mal says that when the wind blows northerly, he goes north, he is actually correct. Though you can be pushed by a northerly wind, it is much more efficient to be pulled by one and head north.
One day.
One plan.
One army of Browncoats.
On June 23rd, we aim to misbehave.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Dewrastler:
I've done some sailing and it kind of works out like this. Usually when you sail you are not aiming to be pushed by the wind. You are trying to be pulled by it, like a wing. So when the wind blows from the north, or northly, you sail as close into as you can. You can't sail directly north, but you try to get as close to it as you can. So when mal says that when the wind blows northerly, he goes north, he is actually correct. Though you can be pushed by a northerly wind, it is much more efficient to be pulled by one and head north.
One day.
One plan.
One army of Browncoats.
On June 23rd, we aim to misbehave.
Aaaaahh. very cool :) See come the FFF site and be educated :)
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Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:
...as an adverb, 'northerly' can mean either "toward the north" or "from the north"...
*heh!* And y'all think Chinese is confusing?
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Cool thread. But confusing, there are so many different ideas.
Was Mal really saying, "When a north wind blows south, I go north" ???
Haha, fun nitpick. I still think Mal meant, "Wind blows in a northern direction, I go north."
"Gott kann dich nicht vor mir beschuetzen, weil ich nicht boese bin."
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