Beaumont's Egg
Brian Watson
Can anyone help me, please?
What is Beaumont's Egg?
--
Brian Watson
Brian J Goggin
>Can anyone help me, please?
>
>What is Beaumont's Egg?
>--
No idea. Nearest I can find is *beaumontage*: "a filling compound used
in joinery and metalwork, said to be named after the French geologist
E'lie de Beaumont (1798 - 1874). As it can be used for disguising bad
workmanship, it has the added meanings of literary padding and bad
work generally." (Brewer; OED says much the same)
Any good?
bjg
G. Pappin
Brian Watson wrote:
>
> Can anyone help me, please?
>
> What is Beaumont's Egg?
> --
The egg of Francis Beaumont (English dramatist), of course. (?)
G. Pappin
Sam Brookes
In article <864379...@spheroid.demon.co.uk>, Brian Watson
<Br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk> writes
>Can anyone help me, please?
>
>What is Beaumont's Egg?
I heard the expression used some years ago on a TV
documentary about the Tay Bridge disaster in Scotland.
The bridge failed with tragic loss of life quite shortly after it had
been completed in the 19th century. The cause was put down to
inferior cast iron used in its construction.
Apparently some pieces of the iron had been cast with holes in
them. The manufacturer had then filled the holes with a
compound called Beaumont's egg which made it look as though
the metal was perfect even though it was weaker than the
specification required.
It must be 20 years since I saw the programme so please forgive
me if any of the detail is inaccurate.
--
Sam Brookes
Brenchley Kent England.
N.Mitchum
Brian Watson wrote:
-------
>
> What is Beaumont's Egg?
In what context did you see it?
Did you have reason to believe someone in an English-usage
newsgroup would have the answer? The term is not in the larger
dictionaries nor in a couple of encyclopedias, as you probably
found out for yourself.
Is it philosophical, like Occam's razor? Physical, like
Schrodinger's cat? A title, like *Sophie's Choice*? A place,
like Pike's Peak?
--- NM
Brian J Goggin
On Sat, 24 May 97 11:20:49 GMT, Br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk (Brian
Watson) wrote:
>In article <864379...@spheroid.demon.co.uk>
> Br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk "Brian Watson" writes:
>
>> Can anyone help me, please?
>>
>> What is Beaumont's Egg?
>
>Thank you everybody for your responses. Don't stop if there are more theories!
>
>I became determined to run this to ground as Irene Thomas (a regular panellist
>on a UK radio programme called Round Britain Quiz) claimed in an interview
>that she had heard the expression once but had been unable afterwards to
>discover its meaning.
>
>As the great lady is very widely read, and a repository of huge amounts of
>life's miscellany which has informed and entertained many people including
>me for many years, I took it upon myself to track this one down on her
>behalf.
>--
Anything, anything to help anyone associated with Round Britain Quiz.
bjg
Mark Brader
> I heard the expression used some years ago on a TV
> documentary about the Tay Bridge disaster in Scotland.
>
> The bridge failed with tragic loss of life quite shortly after it had
> been completed in the 19th century. The cause was put down to
> inferior cast iron used in its construction.
That was only part of it. "Badly designed, badly constructed and badly
maintained" was what the report said. The design error was really the
most critical: a gross underestimate of wind loading. The bridge failed
due to the sideways force of a gale wind on a train that was passing over;
the remains of the train were found inside the bridge superstructure at the
bottom of the water. It's one of the very few passenger train accidents
in history where there have been no survivors.
> Apparently some pieces of the iron had been cast with holes in
> them. The manufacturer had then filled the holes with a
> compound called Beaumont's egg which made it look as though
> the metal was perfect even though it was weaker than the
> specification required.
Evidently this is the material called "beaumontage" in another article in
the thread. The OED (Supplement) also gives the spelling "beaumontague",
this being closer to what the pronunciation suggests.
--
Mark Brader "... there is no such word as 'impossible' in
m...@sq.com my dictionary. In fact, everything between
SoftQuad Inc. 'herring' and 'marmalade' appears to be missing."
Toronto -- Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
My text in this article is in the public domain.