"wanlace" cleared for lift-off

[Pierre Abbat]

On Sunday 15 January 2006 23:37, Jean-Joseph Cote wrote:
> Will wrote:
> > Maybe not all watch chains have one, but mine goes from
> > watch (in the fob-pocket) down and up in a parabola to
> > attach via a reverse button-like-pin ...
>
> Not a parabola.  It's a catenary (which comes from a word meaning
> "chain", I believe).

Once I asked my mom "Two cats each hold one end of a string, which is dangling 
between them. What's the shape of the string?" She answered correctly but I 
had to explain the joke.

"catena" is Latin and Italian and is the cognate of "chaîne".

phma