purchase

[GG]

"She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
her shoes on asphalt."

Is this usage of "purchase" OK?

Thanks.

[Cheryl]

It's certainly not clear. You can talk about your shoes (or their soles)
helping you gain purchase on a slippery surface, but this is almost the
opposite - she's trying to free her shoes from a sticky surface, and it
doesn't sound right to me. She could be fighting with the grip of the
asphalt on her shoes, I suppose.

There must be something leading up to this, because 'she to run' by
itself isn't right. You could have 'They split up, he to run after the
fleeing mugger and she to run in the direction of the call for help.'

--
Cheryl

[Horace LaBadie]

In article <jtme2o$72q$1...@speranza.aioe.org>, GG <not_here@no_where.com>
wrote:

No.

[Don Phillipson]

"GG" <not_here@no_where.com> wrote in message
news:jtme2o$72q$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
> her shoes on asphalt."
>
> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?

Purchase (noun) was in the past synonymous with grip (noun) and
is still used in some contexts, e.g. ropes and rigging (which work
because the friction of a rope's rough surface gives it a grip on
pulleys, belay pins, etc.) Purchase =grip may be used for the ways
shoes grip the ground -- but if it evokes doubt in a reader's mind
perhaps it should not be thus used.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[tony cooper]

Not being a sailor, the most familiar use of "purchase" (meaning
"gripe") to me is a description of a screwdriver mating with a screw.
We speak of "lack of purchase" when the screwdriver slips in the
opening of the screwhead.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Peter Brooks]

On Jul 12, 6:08 pm, tony cooper <tony.cooper...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:09:44 -0400, "Don Phillipson"
>

That's very polite of you, most people say 'fuck' as it loses purchase
and enters the fleshy part of the hand.

[Ian Noble]

Not really. Purchase in this sense is leverage, and nothing to do
(directly at least) with adhesion or grip. She might struggle with a
LACK of purchase, or fight for better purchase, but purchase is very
one-dimensional - more is almost always good. If she has some, why
would she be fighting it? Or if you mean that the asphalt is holding
her back, purchase is the wrong word - "fighting the grip of the
asphalt on her shoes", perhaps.

("She to run" isn't good English, unless there's something before it
to make sense of it.)

Cheers - Ian

[GG]

OK,then.

Thanks, everyone.

[tony cooper]

Drop the "e" from "gripe" and make it "grip".

[GG]

Typo: She wanted to run ... Sorry

Thanks, everyone.

[Stan Brown]

I don't know, because I never got past "She to run", which is not
English.

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

[David Dyer-Bennet]

A little formal or unusual for American English; I think of it as a
Britishism (and my knowledge of BrE is largely 30 years out of date or
so, so it could then be archaic in BrE for all I know).

(And there's something badly wrong, presumably just a copying error, at
the beginning, "She to run"; probably the word "began", "started", or
some such is missing.)
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd...@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca> writes:

> On 2012-07-12 9:27 AM, GG wrote:
>> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
>> her shoes on asphalt."
>>
>> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> It's certainly not clear. You can talk about your shoes (or their
> soles) helping you gain purchase on a slippery surface, but this is
> almost the opposite - she's trying to free her shoes from a sticky
> surface, and it doesn't sound right to me. She could be fighting with
> the grip of the asphalt on her shoes, I suppose.

Huh, I didn't read it that way; I read it as having too little traction,
not too much. Smooth hard soles on asphalt are very slippery.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Technical neepery -- it is not necessary or desirable for rope to grip
pulleys.

[Peter Moylan]

On 14/07/12 13:17, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca> writes:
>
>> On 2012-07-12 9:27 AM, GG wrote:
>>> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
>>> her shoes on asphalt."
>>>
>>> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>
>> It's certainly not clear. You can talk about your shoes (or their
>> soles) helping you gain purchase on a slippery surface, but this is
>> almost the opposite - she's trying to free her shoes from a sticky
>> surface, and it doesn't sound right to me. She could be fighting with
>> the grip of the asphalt on her shoes, I suppose.
>
> Huh, I didn't read it that way; I read it as having too little traction,
> not too much. Smooth hard soles on asphalt are very slippery.

I read it your way too. It would have been much clearer if the original
had said "... fighting with the lack of purchase ...".

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[tony cooper]

On Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:16:22 -0500, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net>
wrote:

>GG <not_here@no_where.com> writes:
>
>> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase
>> of her shoes on asphalt."
>>
>> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?
>
>A little formal or unusual for American English; I think of it as a
>Britishism (and my knowledge of BrE is largely 30 years out of date or
>so, so it could then be archaic in BrE for all I know).
>
>(And there's something badly wrong, presumably just a copying error, at
>the beginning, "She to run"; probably the word "began", "started", or
>some such is missing.)

In that context it might not sound like something an American would
say, but if the comment was about gaining purchase and made by a rock
climber it would.

[Cheryl]

On 14/07/2012 12:47 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca> writes:
>
>> On 2012-07-12 9:27 AM, GG wrote:
>>> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
>>> her shoes on asphalt."
>>>
>>> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>
>> It's certainly not clear. You can talk about your shoes (or their
>> soles) helping you gain purchase on a slippery surface, but this is
>> almost the opposite - she's trying to free her shoes from a sticky
>> surface, and it doesn't sound right to me. She could be fighting with
>> the grip of the asphalt on her shoes, I suppose.
>
> Huh, I didn't read it that way; I read it as having too little traction,
> not too much. Smooth hard soles on asphalt are very slippery.
>

Wouldn't that be fighting the lack of purchase of her shoes on asphalt?

I've never experienced lack of purchase of shoes on asphalt, but I also
never buy shoes or boots with smooth hard soles precisely because they
tend to slip on some surfaces - some indoor ones, in my experience, and
ice or snow.

--
Cheryl

[Mike L]

On Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:17:49 -0500, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net>
wrote:

>"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> writes:
>
>> "GG" <not_here@no_where.com> wrote in message
>> news:jtme2o$72q$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
>>
>>> "She to run in the direction of the call, fighting with the purchase of
>>> her shoes on asphalt."
>>>
>>> Is this usage of "purchase" OK?
>>
>> Purchase (noun) was in the past synonymous with grip (noun) and
>> is still used in some contexts, e.g. ropes and rigging (which work
>> because the friction of a rope's rough surface gives it a grip on
>> pulleys, belay pins, etc.) Purchase =grip may be used for the ways
>> shoes grip the ground -- but if it evokes doubt in a reader's mind
>> perhaps it should not be thus used.
>
>Technical neepery -- it is not necessary or desirable for rope to grip
>pulleys.

And a "purchase" is a tackle giving a mechanical advantage.

--
Mike.

[Mark Brader]

Tony Cooper:

>> Not being a sailor, the most familiar use of "purchase" (meaning
>> "gripe") to me is a description of a screwdriver mating with a screw.
>> We speak of "lack of purchase" when the screwdriver slips in the
>> opening of the screwhead.

Peter Brooks:

> That's very polite of you, most people say 'fuck' as it loses purchase
> and enters the fleshy part of the hand.

Some of us say "When will those Americans learn to supply Robertson-head
screws instead of Philips?"
--
Mark Brader | "If communication becomes impossible, it is expected that
Toronto | both parties will... notify the other that communication
m...@vex.net | has become impossible..." --memo to university staff

[Percival P. Cassidy]

On 08/09/12 02:12 am, Mark Brader wrote:

>>> Not being a sailor, the most familiar use of "purchase" (meaning
>>> "gripe") to me is a description of a screwdriver mating with a screw.
>>> We speak of "lack of purchase" when the screwdriver slips in the
>>> opening of the screwhead.

> Peter Brooks:
>> That's very polite of you, most people say 'fuck' as it loses purchase
>> and enters the fleshy part of the hand.
>
> Some of us say "When will those Americans learn to supply Robertson-head
> screws instead of Philips?"

Robertson are OK, but I prefer Torx. PoziDrv are better than Phillips,
but most Americans have never heard of them even though PZ bits often
come as part of a set of assorted bits sold in US stores. Just try
buying a PoziDrv screwdriver in the US; the only one I have is a UK-made
one I bought while on vacation in NZ.

It was only recently that I discovered that Phillips heads and bits were
*designed* so that the bit "cams out" -- to avoid overdriving the screw.
But the designers seem to have overlooked the possibility that a screw
may become tighter after a while, whether due to corrosion or some other
cause; thus the bit may cam out before the screw loosens.

Perce

[tony cooper]

On Thu, 09 Aug 2012 01:12:37 -0500, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

>Tony Cooper:
>>> Not being a sailor, the most familiar use of "purchase" (meaning
>>> "gripe") to me is a description of a screwdriver mating with a screw.
>>> We speak of "lack of purchase" when the screwdriver slips in the
>>> opening of the screwhead.
>
>Peter Brooks:
>> That's very polite of you, most people say 'fuck' as it loses purchase
>> and enters the fleshy part of the hand.
>
>Some of us say "When will those Americans learn to supply Robertson-head
>screws instead of Philips?"

If Robertson screws are supplied, then a Robertson driver must also be
supplied. Or, very much should be supplied so the buyer who starts to
assemble the product after store closing hours won't be unable to
complete the project.

Home Depot sells Robertson screws in a package that also contains a
Robertson driver insert for those screwdrivers that accept several
styles of driver inserts.

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-08-09, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

> On 08/09/12 02:12 am, Mark Brader wrote:
>
>>>> Not being a sailor, the most familiar use of "purchase" (meaning
>>>> "gripe") to me is a description of a screwdriver mating with a screw.
>>>> We speak of "lack of purchase" when the screwdriver slips in the
>>>> opening of the screwhead.
>
>> Peter Brooks:
>>> That's very polite of you, most people say 'fuck' as it loses purchase
>>> and enters the fleshy part of the hand.
>>
>> Some of us say "When will those Americans learn to supply Robertson-head
>> screws instead of Philips?"
>
> Robertson are OK, but I prefer Torx.

The problem with Torx is that you have to have *exactly* the right
size driver handy for the screw head, whereas you can often get by
with a #2 Philips driver in a #1 head (for example).

> PoziDrv are better than Phillips,
> but most Americans have never heard of them even though PZ bits often
> come as part of a set of assorted bits sold in US stores. Just try
> buying a PoziDrv screwdriver in the US; the only one I have is a UK-made
> one I bought while on vacation in NZ.

It was only recently that I discovered the extra marks let you
distinguish Philips & PZ without trying a screwdriver & hoping for the
best!

http://donsnotes.com/home_garden/images/pozi.gif

> It was only recently that I discovered that Phillips heads and bits were
> *designed* so that the bit "cams out" -- to avoid overdriving the screw.
> But the designers seem to have overlooked the possibility that a screw
> may become tighter after a while, whether due to corrosion or some other
> cause; thus the bit may cam out before the screw loosens.

IIRC, they were designing the heads & drivers for assembly line use in
the days before torque limiters on electric screwdrivers --- so
getting the blasted things back out was a low priority.


--
Civilization is a race between catastrophe and education.
[H G Wells]