Weighing the Scales
I decided to weigh my chances this morning and compose a blog about scales. This all began as I was driving home from Nova Scotia the other evening. I thought about scaling a cliff. Then I wondered aloud why the same word came to mean the act of climbing a steep incline and the act of cleaning a fish. Neither of these can be measured on a scale, nor do they have any tonal quality like the scale that is the curse of every beginning music student.
I have in my union days talked of a wage scale. That makes sense if we think of paying workers with a quantity of a valuable material (e.g. gold dust for the miner) which could be weighed out.
Then I thought of small scale operations where the word scale is actually a redundancy of sorts but makes for more colourful reading.
Back to my first thoughts, it occurred to me that both the scales on the fish and the act of removing them used the same word. That made sense in the same way that taking the skin off is called skinning. But why were the small plate-like dermal structures of fish and some reptiles called scales in the first place. Which came first climbing a cliff, or cleaning a fish?
We weigh our fish with or without scales on a scale which may be large or small. I weigh my chances when I take a risk. I weigh in with my opinion as I am doing now. I try to keep my scales balanced whenever I weigh in lest I be seen as way out somewhere.
When I weigh in with my opinion, I wonder if I weigh down those who consider it. So, I can weigh out something to determine it's weight; weigh in which means to add to or contribute; weigh down which means to depress or burden; and then there's the weigh anchor which means to lift. At the airport I weigh my words carefully lest I in greeting a friend say "Oh Hi Jack" and create a swarm of air marshalls. They weigh my luggage to make sure it's not over weight. And they don't use a small scale.
Now I think it is time to get my day under weigh...which I think means under way and comes from the mistaken impression that when we weigh anchor we then get under weigh.
On a scale calibrated from one to ten, how do you weigh this blog. There are a variety of ways...by word count, by import of significance, by laughter or by the amount of tedium and ennui developed. so have fun and don't let this thing weigh too heavily on your mind. Keep your scales clean and you'll always have a good weight.
I have in my union days talked of a wage scale. That makes sense if we think of paying workers with a quantity of a valuable material (e.g. gold dust for the miner) which could be weighed out.
Then I thought of small scale operations where the word scale is actually a redundancy of sorts but makes for more colourful reading.
Back to my first thoughts, it occurred to me that both the scales on the fish and the act of removing them used the same word. That made sense in the same way that taking the skin off is called skinning. But why were the small plate-like dermal structures of fish and some reptiles called scales in the first place. Which came first climbing a cliff, or cleaning a fish?
We weigh our fish with or without scales on a scale which may be large or small. I weigh my chances when I take a risk. I weigh in with my opinion as I am doing now. I try to keep my scales balanced whenever I weigh in lest I be seen as way out somewhere.
When I weigh in with my opinion, I wonder if I weigh down those who consider it. So, I can weigh out something to determine it's weight; weigh in which means to add to or contribute; weigh down which means to depress or burden; and then there's the weigh anchor which means to lift. At the airport I weigh my words carefully lest I in greeting a friend say "Oh Hi Jack" and create a swarm of air marshalls. They weigh my luggage to make sure it's not over weight. And they don't use a small scale.
Now I think it is time to get my day under weigh...which I think means under way and comes from the mistaken impression that when we weigh anchor we then get under weigh.
On a scale calibrated from one to ten, how do you weigh this blog. There are a variety of ways...by word count, by import of significance, by laughter or by the amount of tedium and ennui developed. so have fun and don't let this thing weigh too heavily on your mind. Keep your scales clean and you'll always have a good weight.
posted by Oldguy | 8:54 am
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