A Dry Run

[columb]

Ok, we've just completed the 'dry run' and now we're on to the real thing. Is this a 'wet run'? And does anyone know where the expression originated?

Thanks

Columb Healy

 

[CRilliterate]

For some reason it came to me 'play dead' - there is no 'play alive' to it, is it?

There no opposite must, is there?

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[addy]

The term run, more fully fire run, has for at least the past century been used by local fire departments in the USA for a call-out to the site of a fire. It was once common for fire departments or volunteer hose companies to give exhibitions of their prowess at carnivals or similar events. A report of one such appeared in the Stevens Point Journal for 8 July 1899: “Wednesday night’s carnival feature was a grand exhibition fire run by the Milwaukee fire department, under the direction of Fire Chief James Foley.” Companies also competed with each other to show how well they could do. These competitions had fairly standard rules, of which several examples appear in the press of this period, such as in the Olean Democrat of 2 August 1888: “Not less than fifteen or more than seventeen men to each company. Dry run, standing start, each team to be allowed one trial; cart to carry 350 feet of hose in 50 foot lengths ...”.
These reports show that a dry run in the jargon of the fire service at this period was one that didn’t involve the use of water, as opposed to a wet run that did. In some competitions there was a specific class for the latter, one of which was reported in the Salem Daily News for 6 July 1896: “The wet run was made by the Fulton hook and ladder company and the Deluge hose company. The run was made east in Main street to Fawcett’s store where the ladders were raised to the top of the building. The hose company attached [its] hose to a fire plug and ascending the ladder gave a fine exhibition.”

Taken from here:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dry1.htm

 

[columb]

Thanks addy - I've bookmarked World Wide Words for future reference.


Columb Healy

 

[KenCunningham]

The run was made east in Main street to Fawcett’s store

How very appropriate in the circumstances! I'm aware of the correct spelling of faucet, by the way, but it made me smile.

 

[tsdragon]

Very clever of you to catch that, Ken!

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Yeah, and another thing ... why is going to parties or night clubs something you do "after dark"? Surely, it should be "during dark".

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[j0ckser]

why is going to parties or night clubs something you do "after dark"? Surely, it should be "during dark".[/quote MikeLewis]
i suspect it is a shortening of "after darkness falls" or "after the sky darkens".

per ardua ad astra

 

[Golom]

Or as my southern friends say

"See y'all about dark:30"

[small]No! No! You're not thinking ... you're only being logical.
- Neils Bohr[/small]

 

[tsdragon]

I thought that was "Oh dark thirty". I use that to mean VERY early in the morning (i.e. before the sun rises).

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Stella740pl]

CRilliterate,

For some reason it came to me 'play dead' - there is no 'play alive' to it, is it?

Well, only if you are really alive, you may then play dead, or act (inact?) as if you were dead.

To 'play alive', you are supposed to be not alive, or dead, otherwise you wouldn't be playing. :-D But you can't really be expected to play anything at all if you are dead.

Does it make sense?

 

[sleipnir214]

<aside>

Well, only if you are really alive, you may then play dead, or act (inact?) as if you were dead.

I am reminded of a Saturday Night Live "Master Thespian" sketch starring Jon Lovitz and John Lithgow. In the sketch, Jon Lovitz delivers the line, "No! It is I who fooled you! For I am dead.. and merely acting alive!"

Transcript:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/85/85dthespian.phtml

</aside>



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[gbaughma]

Zombie leaders to the rest of the zombies: "QUICK! Somebody's coming! Everybody play alive!"

<chuckle>



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg