That is a good fact. 'mericans huh?
Canadians too, I believe. So North Americans. I’m not sure how it started, but it’s pervasive.
The funny thing is that when Americans use the word “watershed” metaphorically, they stick with the original meaning, a divide.
I’m American, and grew up using the word in the way of our people. It was a minor shock to me to learn that people from other English-speaking countries used the word to mean the opposite of what I meant. It was an enormous shock to realize that the way I used the word as a metaphor showed that the foreigners had it right. You could say it was a watershed moment.
If they want to be consistent they should rename anywhere with ‘pass’ in it as ‘valley’ and viceversa. It’s insane. It’s called a watershed because it’s the point where water is shed from.
Do you know that if a drop of snow melts on top of Mont Blanc, depending on mere cm apart, the water could end up in the Baltic, The Med, the Black Sea or the Atlantic. Hows that for sensitivity to boundary conditions?
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
