2006-08-03 05:54:46 · 21 answers · asked by coxy 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I
T
S
H
O
U
L
D
B
E
U
S
E
D LIKE THIS SENTENCE.
2006-08-03 06:03:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe that it should only be used in a vertical context. Of course, if the thing you are talking about veers slightly from the plumb line you are using, then you may use the term 'slantindicular' (I didn't just make that up - we had a local builder who used the word in all seriousness).
On the other hand, if one IS being serious. 'Perpendicular' can be used where you mean 'vertical' as opposed to 'horizontal'. It is also an architectural term (in a historical sense) describing a period in English church architecture when many windows had long and prominent uprights (King's College Chapel in Cambridge is an excellent example).
To 'perpend' means to 'hang from' as a plumb bob hangs on a plumb line - hence 'vertical' or at 90 degrees to a level surface. By extension, therefore, it has come to mean 'at 90 degrees to another line'. So, in Geometry one speaks of the 'perpendicular' of a triangle, meaning the line which would be described by a plumb line from the apex of a triangle if the base were parallel with the horizon ('horizontal').
Per-pen-dicular is alsho a word which iT is veRy diffificult to shay when you have imbibed an ex-kshessh of alcooohol and alsho find it diff ... er ... hard (yeh - thAsh the word) to remain in a ... um ...um ... I mean hard to per-pend from the vertical ... well, you knowhaimean, doncha, olchap... (you gera different view on life from downere, doncha!)
While we are on the subject of perpendicular breakfasts ... I think the first pint is always perpendicular ... it goes straight down. A curry on a queasy stomach may also be perpendicular for the opposite reason.
2006-08-03 13:24:18 · answer #2 · answered by Owlwings 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the context of right angles. Not, for example, I think I'll have a perpendicular breakfast.
2006-08-03 12:59:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When something is upright and at a right angle or 90 degrees to a given surface or line. I know this can be a geometrical term but we use it in everyday language ..... such as the fence post remained 'perpendicular' to the ground.
2006-08-03 13:06:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One of Sir Humphrey's best lines ever, from "Yes Minister".
He had been asked who it was who had drawn up a really bad contract 20 years ago, which meant that the government was about to lose a lot of money, and Humphrey said (something like), "The person you are looking for, is the very person, whom your present interlocutor is in the habit of defining by means of the perpendicular pronoun".
Does that help?
2006-08-03 13:02:33 · answer #5 · answered by The Lone Gunman 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The angle was measured from the perpendicular.
2006-08-03 15:19:07 · answer #6 · answered by Veritas 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Construction, like when you're building a doghouse or something: The wall boards must be perpendicular to the floorboards.
2006-08-03 13:00:44 · answer #7 · answered by Purechild 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My mama used to say it all the time, "get your perpendicular out of there!"
2006-08-03 13:15:05 · answer #8 · answered by Lyn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Erm, the line was perpendicular to the axis?
2006-08-03 12:58:11 · answer #9 · answered by sly` 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to get a definition and suggested context... go to google type in 'perpendicular AND definition' they even have diagrams!
2006-08-04 13:41:38 · answer #10 · answered by skyler 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My HDD has perpendicular storage
2006-08-03 13:20:20 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋