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Re: wave momentum



Larry Smith wrote:

At 11:17 AM -0700 3/11/1999, brian whatcott wrote:
in case
I'm being too obtuse.)

I think 'abstruse' is the word you had in mind.
Nobody claims you are less than acute! :-)

See <http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mweb> for the following definition
Main Entry: ob=B7tuse
1 a : not pointed or acute : BLUNT b (1) of an angle : exceeding 90 degrees
but less than 180 degrees (2) : having an obtuse angle <an obtuse triangle>
-- see TRIANGLE
illustration c of a leaf : rounded at the free end
2 a : lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect :
INSENSITIVE, STUPID
b : difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression
synonym see DULL

Brian was completely right. I was using 'obtuse' as a sort of inside
joke (intentional malapropism for abstruse) which would work even
without definition 1 above. I should have put a smiley face to indicate
that it was intentional. Brian was continuing the joke by playing off
definition 1.

Thanks for the URL! I've been wanting a good dictionary web site, but
hadn't found it until now.
--
--James McLean
jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu
post doc
UC San Diego, Chemistry