Tonight's English-language oddity:

[Redstone]

We call something that heats our house a "heater."

Why, then, do we not call an air-conditioner a "cooler?"

Any ideas?

Redstone

[yewberry]

1. I think that by the time air conditioners were invented

that word was already taken.

:shrug:

[Seabiscuit]

2. When air conditioning first appeared we called it a "cooler".

(e.g.: "Is the cooler on?" "Could you turn the cooler on?") I don't know why it still isn't commonly called that. Maybe because of those portable plasticine "coolers"?

[baldguy]

3. You drive on a parkway, and park in a driveway.

[Redstone]

14. That's one of those "conundrum" questions that falls apart

in the face of logic and a bit of knowledge:

1) Parkways were called that because they were nicely landscaped, so you felt like you were driving through a park. the word has nothing to do with the stationary meaning of the word "park."

2) A driveway provides a way to drive off the street and into your yard. The fact that you 'park" your car after you've driven on the driveway is immaterial.

So, next time someone asks you that question, you'll know the answer, won't you?

And I hope you'll thank me for it when you do.

Redstone

[In_The_Wind]

4. I'm not old enough to know the answer to that question.

[WCGreen]

19. Dungarees or Jeans.....

[yvr girl]

5. Don't they also have another function

I thought they took the humidity out of the air as well.

[yewberry]

6. Mmm, dehumidifier, I think.

A/C is just for cooling.

[Redstone]

8. Yes, in fact the modern compressor-type air conditioner

was developed almost as much for its dehumidification ability as for its cooling ability.

Now: FIVE BIG POINTS for anyone who can tell me (no Google, no cheating), what the earliest commercial activities were that adopted air-conditioning on a large scale.

Hints: 1)This happened even before movie theaters did it. 2) Remember the part about keeping the humidity down. 3) It was for something that people did a lot more back then than they did now.

Start your guesses. Remember, FIVE BIG POINTS for the winner. And no Google, dammit!

Redstone

[nuxvomica]

9. Bakeries, of course

Please explain in excruciating detail why cuz I forget.

[Redstone]

11. Nope. Good try, keep thinking. Another hint: It's an activity

that even now, though many things have changed, gets virtually impossible to do right when the air is damp.

Redstone

[yewberry]

10. Eek, it'd be easier if I had a clue as to WHEN AC was invented...

...something they did a lot more of back then...

I give.

[Redstone]

12. Very late 1800s, early 1900s.

Redstone

[Redstone]

7. Yes, they do. but I suspect that "air conditioner" is one of

those old trademarks that people latched on to and used to such an extent that the trademark holder gave up trying to fight it...among such "orphaned" trademarks are Cellophane, Aspirin, Refrigerator, Kleenex, and Nylon.

Redstone

[bridgit]

13. well, we DO call our a/c unit a "cooler" as in...

"honey, turn the cooler on would'ja?" though, my query is...why is a fast ball oft times referred to as a 'heater' :shrug: what then would be the antithesis? rolling the freaking ball across home plate

:shrug:

[Redstone]

15. No, the antithesis, in this case, would be a changeup.

I'm not a baseball expert but I know this one.

Redstone

[bridgit]

17. well, all right, but...

"honey, turn up the 'change up' would'ja" just seems wrong :rofl:

[Floogeldy]

16. The Difference

An air conditioner conditions the air by removing heat from it.

A cooler cools the air by adding coolness to it.

:)

[Redstone]

20. You can't "add coolness."

Redstone

[Floogeldy]

24. Sure you can.

Remember the old "water coolers?" They cooled the air, with water.

:)

[hyphenate]

18. Well

there is a thing called a "swamp cooler" which is made to cool a house down. It's used a lot out in Southern California, where I was. But the air conditioner might have originally been made to do exactly that, and they found it could cool the air down at the same time. Otherwise, I'm stumped.

[Redstone]

21. See post #8. Got any ideas? Even guesses?

Redstone

[Redstone]

23. The swamp cooler is an evaporative cooler, and only works

in "dry heat" when the humidity is low.

A compressor-driven air conditioner will work in wet, hot air and dry it out while it's cooling.

Redstone

[Redstone]

22. OK, here's the answer. The first commercial installatons

of modern compressor-type air conditing was at large printing companies.

The hints:

1) A MUCH larger percentage of the American population read daily newspapers a hundred years ago than now; and

2) The modern version has the same problem. Have you ever tried to print something on an ink-jet printer with high humidity and damp paper? If you haven't, don't try it.

Redstone

[Floogeldy]

25. Wow

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

;)