h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for a great entry! Also, thanks for pointing out to me the existence of the Hudson Canal. Here in New York State, most of the canal press goes to the Erie Canal--so much so that it's easy to forget that there are other canals as well. And this one's pretty close to New York City, making it yet another good potential canoe trip when I can't stand the city any more.

Dr. F.

I think that it is actually called the Hudson & Delaware Canal and the entry will (eventually) be changed accordingly.

I don't know about canoeing, nor, indeed do I have any knowledge of the location, but the town of Rosendale sounds interesting, and the Widow Jane Mine (see link at bottom of entry) has a museum, and, perhaps more interesting, may have access to one of the old mines, which appears to contain vast caverns with very flat water covered floors. I certainly have a charming photo of some Edwardian ladies in a cavern apparently 'walking on water'. Might make a diversionary escape from NYC one weekend.

My personal interest is in Natural Cement, of which Rosendale was a type. When giving an occasional talk on the subject I always use the Statue of Liberty Plinth and Brooklyn Bridge as examples of the longevity of concrete made from this type of 'weak' cement.

I think it should be called Hudson and Delaware Canal, and an amendment may yet be included to that effect.

I do not know my geography (or canoes!) very well, but might I suggest you follow the link in the entry to the Widow Jane mine. There seems to be a museum at Rosendale, the town itself might be interesting and if you can get access to the old mines, they may be of even more interest. There are huge caverns with water covered floors (I have a charming picture of some Victorian ladies apparently walking on water). I seem to recall that they may have been used for recording orchestras/choirs/bands etc in the past. It might make an interesting excursion one hot summer sunday.

My particular interest is in Natural Cement and Rosendale produced one of those. I cannot let a NY resident pass by without pointing out that both the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge are built on plinths of (supposedly) weak concrete made from Natural Cement, a fact I use when giving the occasional talk on the subject to hardened professionals who assume that strength is everything.

PS The above was repeated due to a hiatus with the site/my pc causing me to believee the prior entry lost. Sorry.

No worries on the repeat, and thanks again.

What exactly is a plinth? From the context, I assume that it's the base or a pedestal--but what differentiates a plinth from a pedestal?

I often have hours of fun discussing such with the British English thread, so I shall ask them and let you know if they come up with an answer. For now, I meant the base, the bit that the statue stands on.

(You will note that my idea of fun differs somewhat from commonly accepted definitions!)

It appears that pedestal may be the correct term, at least the website for Liberty Island says so. However, we Brits seem to prefer Plinth, but are totally unable to define the difference. If you are in the market for useless knowledge you may like to know the word 'socle' (In both English and American) which means much the same thing.

Plinth=pedestal=socle. I'm down with that. "Plinth" has a kind of elegance to it that "pedestal" seems to lack. Plus--in America, at least--"plinth" is pleasantly free of the snobby associations attached to "pedestal" (e.g. putting someone up on a pedestal, get down off your pedestal). Then, also, I get to teach people a new word. I'll be a monster on the Scrabble board.

Incidentally, a few years ago I made up a word that I'd like to pass on to you because I think it's quite useful. That word is "fruncal" (FRUN-kel), and it's an adjective describing an object that is chewy in the middle and crunchy or crispy on the outside. Well-baked cookies and brownies can thus be considered fruncal, as can candies and even certain filets, if prepared appropriately. If you decide to adopt this word, I would prefer that you use it casually, as if the word already exists, and act slightly surprised when the person asks you what it means. I think it's the best way to work it into the lexicon. My ultimate dream, of course, is to see the word appear in the OED before I die, hopefully complete with some attempt to suss out (a phrase I got from Radiohead) its etymology. That would delight me to no end: "Fruncal, from the Greek..."