On 22/04/2021 02:23, Jim Joyce wrote:
On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 23:47:12 +0300, Anton Shepelev
wrote:

micky:

If the helicopter on Mars goes up, does it go up in the
air? Is the stuff near the surface of Mars "air". Or is
"air" limited to earth.

Or have you just exhausted your daily allotment of question
marks?

I think `air' is a legitimate and in the long term unavoid-
able word for the substance of Martial (or Martian?) atmo-
sphere. Mars already has moons, and other worlds already
have their own suns. Storms have eyes, as rivers do mouths.
Boats have noses, saws have teeth, caves have lips, wheat
has ears.

I would have used corn for that last example, versus wheat.

Not to mention walls.


Economy of vocabulary by means of metaphorical
reuse of existng words is a major force behind the adapta-
tion of language to the ever-changing world.