Thursday, November 24, 2011

Stylebook again

People who are "rapidly aging":

Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings
Dorian Gray when his portrait is destroyed
The twin brother of a spaceman travelling at 99% of the speed of light, from the spaceman's frame of reference.

People who are not "rapidly aging":

The population of Europe
The population of Japan

Every hack writer on demographics commits this solecism, but that doesn't make it OK.
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4 comments:

  1. RobotSlave12/02/2011 07:43:00 AM

    Absent gravitational time dilation, I believe you'll find that your twin is in fact aging slowly, when you look at him out the window of your personal spacecraft.

    I'd say you were referring to a special case, but that would confuse.

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  2. The Rioja Kid12/02/2011 10:07:00 AM

    "Absent gravitational time dilation" is a pretty big ask though isn't it?

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  3. Phil12/04/2011 09:13:00 AM

    "General Relativity: we're all in it together"

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  4. RobotSlave12/04/2011 08:47:00 PM

    If we can ask one personal spacecraft, I see no reason we can't ask at least a space suit for the twin.

    Seems a lot less to ask than a planet, to me, but then maybe you just take a planet for granted.

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