Transormer quibble

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I see Winston is doing his usual in transforming another thread.



To avoid cluttering that thread. Could you please tell me what this is?

upload_2016-9-20_13-17-13.jpeg


It does the same job as a car, which I thought it was at first.
However, it can't be because the definition of a car is:

upload_2016-9-20_13-22-44.png


Yet, the thing in the picture can't be that because it doesn't have an internal combustion engine. Perhaps it is a Switched Mode Transportation Supplier - or something equally catchy which ordinary people will soon get used to and adopt.
"Have you seen the Switched Mode Transportation Supplier keys, love?"


Of course, it does have four wheels and is able to carry a small number of people so perhaps, just perhaps, the details of the construction method need not have been included and the original definition is now wrong or, heavens, needs updating.
There are other definitions of 'car' that don't conform to those criteria so maybe the wrong word was chosen in the first place. After all, you can't say something is a car because it matches the above description when there are other things which are cars that don't.


I don't know, it's such a puzzle knowing what to call things when modern versions which do the same job are invented.



I remember when a club was a club; not somewhere you went for a night out.


It's so confusing.
 
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It does the same job as a car, which I thought it was at first. However, it can't be because the definition of a car is:
It is certainly a road vehicle, and if one interprets that definition as meaning that the "typically" applies to all that follows it, then I suppose it would satisfy that definition. The only real scope for argument is by virtue of the comma after "wheels".

Kind Regards, John
 
mechanically propelled is the legal definition of a motor vehicle. that tesla is a car.

they're actually quite fun to drive. but the price tag. ouch. by the time you've had the essentials you are talking 80 grand.
 
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No it isn't, there's a comma before typically as well.
There is, but that doesn't really make a lot of difference. If you removed that first comma, and replaced the second one with "and", I don't think that there would be any scope for argument.

Quite a few dictionaries s just use "engine", not specifically "internal combustion", and others make the "typically" a bit clearer - e.g. the Collins Dictionary says "...esp one with four wheels that is powered by an internal-combustion engine" - so just "especially", not "only".

Given the millions of things which have changed over the years/decades, whilst retaining the same name, I'm not convinced that the example you've chosen to quote is a particularly ideal one.

Kind Regards, John
 
The commas make a difference; they are acting like brackets.


I know you disagree with the point of my post but you are wriggling.

The Tesla doesn't have an engine, either.
 
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mechanically propelled is the legal definition of a motor vehicle. that tesla is a car.
Not sure if you are aware of the purpose of my post but, anyway -

the legal definition of a 'motor vehicle' has little to do with the dictionary definition of 'car'.

Do we have a legal definition of 'transformer'?
 
I don't know, it's such a puzzle knowing what to call things when modern versions which do the same job are invented.


It's so confusing.

Well no one has yet invented a modern version of a transformer which does the same job. All the modern stuff changes the frequency to either tens of kHz or to DC neither of which fit the description that a transformer does not change the frequency.

So you call them what they are, namely a PWM switch mode power supply, or how about halogen lamp power supply, and a DC power supply.

No need to be confused!
 
Well no one has yet invented a modern version of a transformer which does the same job. All the modern stuff changes the frequency to either tens of kHz or to DC neither of which fit the description that a transformer does not change the frequency.

So you call them what they are, namely a PWM switch mode power supply, or how about halogen lamp power supply, and a DC power supply.

No need to be confused!

Then they can come under definition 2 as they transform voltage.

upload_2016-9-20_14-49-22.png


There is no suitable alternative for car

upload_2016-9-20_14-55-25.png


So, is the Tesla not a car or will the definition have to be updated?
 
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